Morning Sun
by Miss Mysty
Summary: AU.  Kisa Shouta is thirty-two and considers his life to be in a rut, even if that rut involves a lot of one-night stands.  He doesn't think he can love, despite the twinge he starts feeling whenever he sees the new Emerald editor, Yukina Kou.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The sunlight was harsh on Kisa Shouta's eyes as he opened them, dreading the tinny beep of his alarm clock. It was a digital number, one you could just set to go off at the same time every day. Why he thought that was a good idea when he had such an irregular schedule, he'd never know. The rapid succession of beeps started right on time, and he glared at the large numbers that read seven AM. It was the start of a new cycle, and he should've felt refreshed, but he could've done with about two more days of sleep.

When Kisa reached to hit snooze, though, he realized there was someone else in the bed with him. Kisa glared at the man, trying to place him, but his mind had become a haze fairly early in the evening. The editors of Emerald, the shojo manga magazine Kisa worked for, had decided they needed to go out drinking to celebrate another successful cycle. There had been teasing of the head editor Takano-san and his boyfriend, another editor at the magazine. Poor Ritsu, or Ricchan as Kisa called him, was terrible at holding his alcohol and had ended up being dragged home by Takano-san, who wasn't perfectly steady on his feet himself. The other two editors, Mino and Hatori, had ended up going home, but Kisa didn't.

Kisa had nothing to go home _to_. Takano-san had Ritsu, Hatori had Yoshikawa Chiharu (whom Kisa had never seen, but knew existed since she was one of Emerald's top authors) and Mino… well, no one knew about Mino besides maybe Takano-san, and he wasn't saying anything. Kisa was thirty-two years old, single, and gay. He didn't even have a roommate to go home to. He'd ended up drinking long after his coworkers left, and the unfamiliar man lying next to him was the apparent result.

The man finally started to stir, and Kisa tensed. This was usually the most awkward part of his numerous one-night stands. It wasn't always that way, of course; if Kisa was in the right state of mind, he'd bring the men he picked up to a love hotel so he could fuck, maybe get a few hours of sleep, then sneak away when his partner was still sleeping. He preferred it that way, in fact. Men he brought back to his apartment tended to get too attached to him.

Finally the man cracked open one eye, gazing up at him with half his face buried in the pillow, and Kisa said, "I have to go to work."

The man seemed entirely too confused at his surroundings. Kisa suspected he was just as smashed as himself when they agreed to go back to his apartment. As Kisa stood up, though, the aching in his bare backside and bruises on his chest confirmed his suspicions about his night: he'd seen a guy at the bar, they'd maybe flirted for a bit, and then they'd gone to his apartment and had sex.

This was not a new occurrence.

"I thought you said you were in college," the man muttered, staring appreciatively at his body. Kisa was a small guy, and his delicate features and flawless skin let him get away with leading people to believe he was a lot younger than he really was.

"I say a lot of things when I'm drunk," Kisa muttered, finally shutting off his alarm clock when the beeping grew loud and shrill. "Now you can either leave by yourself or I can escort you out, and I promise the second option is a lot more embarrassing than it sounds."

The man simply nodded and pulled the covers off. Kisa took care not to watch as he went around and gathered his clothes. There was a tie draped over one of the ceiling lights, and Kisa stared up at it until the man stretched up and grabbed the thing. Kisa preferred to have his one-night stands while sober, mostly because when he had drunken sex, he'd wake up the next morning to more than a few questions about the state of his surroundings.

Finally the man was gone, not even asking for his phone number or email. _Good man_, Kisa thought.

Kisa didn't bother putting his own clothes on, because he intended to take a shower before he got something for breakfast and headed into work. Takano-san was usually more lenient on people at the start of a cycle, and the past few months he'd been pushing his boss's forgiveness as far as possible. This was actually the first time in a while he'd woken up after the last night of a cycle and found a strange man beside him. Mostly, he just liked to catch up on his sleep. It wasn't like he needed beauty sleep, but the "magical transformation" that happened every month when an issue of Emerald was finished production was hard for him to accomplish on two hours of sleep.

Unfortunately, Kisa's apartment was a mess. Takeout boxes and beer cans were strewn everywhere, as well as copies of his author's storyboards, tossed aside haphazardly as soon as he had faxed corrections to them. He should've had them filed away at the Emerald offices, but they only went back a month and the people in record keeping hadn't bothered him about it yet. Just for safety's sake, though, Kisa bent down and gathered them together, then put them beside his work bag. In all the craziness and disorganization of the previous night, his work bag had somehow managed to land upright on his coffee table.

Kisa's friends, the ones who didn't know he was gay, had often said that he needed a cute little housewife to stay home and clean and cook for him. It would certainly make things easier on him, he'd secretly admit to himself, but having a cute little woman in his house was not top on his list of priorities. Having a cute little house husband didn't appeal much to him, either.

When it came right down to it, Kisa mused as he picked some fresh clothes from over by the washing machine and headed for the bathroom, Kisa simply didn't like long-term relationships. In his more dramatic moments, he'd even say he didn't know how to love. He certainly didn't know what it felt like, at any rate; he'd been with what had to have been hundreds of guys since high school, and he hadn't felt that warm, fuzzy feeling people claimed to have when they were in love. Kisa couldn't see himself in a relationship like Takano-san had with Ritsu, with the playful teasing and stolen kisses when they thought no one was looking.

Kisa suddenly stopped as he stepped into his shower. Perhaps it was time to be a bit pickier about when he picked up men. The end of a cycle at Emerald always made him way too emotional, and being emotional made him introspective. He'd learned a long time ago that you got through life easier by just not thinking.

xxx

There was a café Kisa liked to stop at when he had the time, which wasn't as often as he liked. It was right between Marukawa Shoten and his apartment, so if he felt like walking instead of taking the subway, he could stop in and get a bagel and some coffee. He'd made good time with his shower, so he decided to stop in there instead of getting a premade breakfast from a convenience store. He sat at his usual table near a set of windows and ordered, then let his eyes drift around the store.

Most of the customers were ones who were getting takeout on their way to work. The bar was lined with people just waiting for their disposable travel mugs of tea or coffee, muttering to themselves about how early it was and complaining that they didn't have time to eat a real meal. Kisa rolled his eyes, but he smiled at the waitress as she put his coffee down and said his bagel would be out in a few minutes. His eyes followed her as he picked up his mug, all the way to where she stopped at another customer's table.

Kisa coughed as he saw the man whom the woman was giving a takeout bag to. Even sitting down he was clearly tall, with light hair, supermodel proportions, and the most sparkly aura about him Kisa had seen outside a shojo manga. He'd been drawing in a large sketchpad before he noticed the waitress approaching, and he flipped it closed and held it to his chest as he conversed. Even his smile seemed to radiate sparkles, and Kisa finally had to look away, lest the man notice he was staring and try to approach him. Kisa had picked up more than one one-night stand that way, and it was too early in the morning for that shit.

"You're not working at the bookstore anymore, Yukina-san?" the waitress asked, clearly used to conversing with this sparkly creature.

"No. I actually have a job at a publisher now," the man named Yukina said. "I start today, so that's why I'm in a bit of a hurry. Have a good day." He stood up at that, and the waitress got out of the way so he could leave the booth. She watched him leave, a dreamy smile on her face, before someone called out a ready order from the kitchen and she was forced to go back to her job.

Kisa seemed to be the only one who noticed a book had dropped out of the man's bag. Kisa's bagel hadn't been the called order, and he was feeling especially nosy at the moment, so he carefully snuck over to the table the man had been waiting for his order at. The book was just lying there on the floor face-up, and when Kisa reached down and grabbed it, he immediately recognized the title.

Mostly because it was one of the manga he was currently editing. The new tankobon had been released just yesterday but the spine was already slightly bent and crinkled from use, the front cover unable to lay completely flat anymore. It had clearly been appreciated, and Kisa couldn't help but smile down at the volume as he held it in his hands. He'd seen this a million times before through the approval process, but it was somehow different this time.

"Kisa-san, your bagel is ready," Kisa's waitress said from behind him, smiling the entire time. Kisa jumped in surprise and quickly hid the tankobon behind his back, but it didn't seem she had seen it. As far as she knew, Kisa had just been randomly kneeling on the floor because he was, in fact, an incredibly imbalanced person and just did things like that from time to time. Kisa was the first to admit that description wasn't entirely off.

The waitress just smiled at him and went about her job, because clearly, Kisa wasn't as worthy of making a big deal over as "Yukina-san" had been. Kisa stood up, the manga still in his hands, and he quickly looked outside to make sure Yukina wasn't coming back before going to his table and slipping it into his bag.

xxx

Kisa was feeling incredibly refreshed by the time he got to the Emerald offices, and he couldn't help but grin as he sat down at his desk and said, "Ricchan!" to his neighbor. Onodera Ritsu simply nodded at him, considering the juice box he'd been sucking away at before Kisa got in. No matter how long Ritsu worked at Emerald, he'd never be quite as sparkly as the rest of the men were on the first day of a new cycle. He'd clearly had a good night, though, because Kisa could see fresh hickies on his neck, hidden under the neckline of his shirt but visible when he shifted just the right way. Kisa couldn't help it; he reached over and poked at one of them, much to Ritsu's chagrin. "Did you have a good night with Takano-san?"

"…I don't actually remember," Ritsu muttered, staring down at his juice box again. It was one of those small ones you'd buy in packs of ten or twelve for children, loaded with sugar but a better fruit alternative than none. Kisa briefly wondered where he'd gotten it; they certainly didn't sell anything like that in the vending machines in Marukawa. "By the way, Takano-san wanted you down in general affairs when you got here."

"Huh?" Kisa blinked, forgoing his juice envy. "Did he say why?"

"New recruit," Ritsu said, waving a hand like that would help explain it. "Something about having you train him because he 'doesn't have the damn time'."

Kisa stood up, forgoing the temptation to tell Ritsu how cute it was when he swore and heading for the elevators again. He flirted with Ritsu a lot, it was true, but he was never serious about it. It had been obvious early-on there had been chemistry between Ritsu and their editor-in-chief, and while Kisa didn't know the whole story, they had both been off the market long before they officially got together. And Kisa was fine with that. Ritsu had a cute face, but it wasn't the kind he usually fell for. Being shallow had its advantages, he supposed.

The general affairs department was usually lively, simply because they weren't an editing department with a harsh schedule like Emerald was. Kisa immediately spotted his boss standing over at a table occupied by two people, smiling his best despite what Ritsu had told him earlier. Kisa would give him at least that much credit: Takano-san sure knew how to charm a room.

"Here he is," Takano-san said as soon as he spotted Kisa, and he signaled him over. "This is one of our editors, Kisa Shouta. Kisa, this is our new recruit, Yukina Kou." Takano-san went on to say something about Kisa being in the department even before he was hired, but Kisa wasn't listening anymore.

Of course Yukina wouldn't recognize Kisa, considering that morning in the café was the first time Kisa had even seen him, and Yukina certainly hadn't spotted him. The hour or so it had been since that one-sided meeting had done nothing to dampen Kisa's opinion about Yukina's looks or his sparkly aura. In fact, the aura seemed to be even stronger than in the café, simply because he was sitting there in Marukawa. He looked like he had never, in his wildest dreams, expected to get that far.

Finally Takano-san discretely nudged Kisa in the ribs, and Kisa bowed deeply. "It's good to meet you. Yukina-san, was it?"

Yukina stood up and bowed as well. "You can just call me Yukina, if you want." That radiant smile he'd seen a few times before was directed at him, and if Kisa were even a tiny bit more dramatic, he would've shielded his eyes.

"Anyway," Takano-san, said, and he reached into the front pocket of his shirt and produced his glasses. "I have a meeting to get to, so could you bring him upstairs, Kisa? We already have a desk set up for him so just show him around."

Kisa nodded at that, watching Takano-san leave before realizing that Yukina was waiting for him to say something. Finally he turned and just nodded, pointing towards the elevator he had used just moments ago.

"And here are the Emerald offices," Kisa said, back into moe mode as he found himself surrounded by all the pink wallpaper and stuffed animals. He actually twirled around a bit with a flourish as he reached the editors' desks. "Here we have the magazine editors. Ricchan also works as our scheduler." Kisa grinned and patted Ritsu on the head, earning a glare from his coworker as he still sucked away on that juice box. "Across from him is Hatori Yoshiyuki, our second editor-in-chief. Mino-san doesn't seem to be here yet, though."

"He's late?" Yukina asked with concern.

Kisa's happy smile faltered, and he felt a shiver go down his spine reflexively. "We don't much question Mino-san. He gets his things in on time and… that's as far as we bother him."

Even the previously stoic-faced Hatori looked uncomfortable at that, and Yukina decided it was best not to ask. Kisa pointed out one of the empty desks and told him he could set up there before saying he needed to go get more coffee. Instead of setting up, Yukina found himself putting his bag down on the desk and following his coworker to the lounge.

"Um, sempai," Yukina said, and Kisa jumped in surprise. He'd been reaching for a can of coffee when Yukina finally caught up to him and said something. "Takano-san said you should show me around, so I was hoping you could do that now, if you had the time!" His eyes sparkled in a different way than when he smiled; he looked genuinely happy at his position, standing there in the floor's employee lounge while Kisa tried to get his heart down to its regular rhythm.

Kisa finally reached down and took the coffee, but he didn't look especially happy. "You don't have to call me sempai, you know. We're not in school."

"Then- Sho-chan?" Yukina asked, but even he could tell Kisa wasn't especially pleased with that designation. "I just thought, since you called the other man Ricchan…"

Kisa held up a hand at that, stopping Yukina's thought before he could say any more. "Just call me Kisa-san." And then he smiled. "And of course! You came on to Emerald at a great time. Later in the month wouldn't be as ideal."

"Why do you say that?"

Kisa glanced back at his new coworker as he took a long gulp from his coffee. Then he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and said, with a light shrug, "You'll see if you last long enough, newbie."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Newbie editors were usually assigned to just work alongside the others for the first cycle and then given their own author if it looked like they were going to work out, and of course, Kisa had ended up being Yukina's mentor. Kisa wasn't quite sure how he was going to get through the next few weeks having Yukina follow him around for half the day, but he didn't say that to Takano-san. The editor-in-chief of Emerald looked particularly pissed-off when he came back from his meeting, and Kisa had a feeling he'd just had it out with sales regarding the next few tankobon printings. Some things never changed.

"So have you put manga together before?" Kisa asked as he searched around in his bag for those storyboard edits he'd picked up in his apartment that morning. He intended to use them as examples, since he was supposed to be teaching Yukina about how they did things at Emerald. When Yukina shook his head, Kisa rose his eyebrows in surprise. "You didn't intern with a publisher before this?"

"No," Yukina said, looking sheepish as he ducked his head. His eyes followed Kisa's hand when he finally found the storyboards and pulled them out. "My major was actually painting, specifically oil painting. I did do an internship, but it was at a modern art gallery…" He finally got sight of some of the text on the storyboard pages before him, and his eyes started to sparkle. "Are these the storyboards for Purple Strawberry? It's my favorite series in Emerald right now!"

Kisa caught a glance of the volume he'd picked up from Yukina's booth and spirited away in his bag. It was like it was taunting him about the action now that he had time to think about how crazy it had been, but he simply gave it a glare and shut his bag. "So if you were more interested in painting, what made you want to be a manga editor?"

"I love shojo manga," Yukina said, that sparkly smile returning, and Kisa had to turn away. "Before I was hired here at Marukawa, I worked at a small, independent bookstore where I managed the shojo shelves. I did such a good job selling Emerald titles that I was noticed by some of the people over in sales."

"So why aren't you over in sales? I'm sure they could use you," Kisa said, remembering his suspicions about Takano-san's bad mood earlier. Even after a few years in the black, the sales department still didn't seem to trust Emerald to live up to the huge print runs its editor-in-chief was constantly telling them they needed.

Yukina smiled and pulled his chair up close to Kisa's so they could both look at the storyboards. "I told you, I love shojo manga. I wouldn't have thought you'd know my favorite titles though, Kisa-san."

"Huh?" Kisa asked, spreading the pages before them on his desk for easier analysis. "This is one of the series I edit." Yukina didn't say anything, and Kisa started pointing out marks he had made and arrows switching around panels. He thought that Yukina had just been listening attentively, but when he looked up to see if he had any questions about his explanations, he realized that Yukina's eyes were sparkling. "What?"

Before he could say more, a small package, wrapped in bright pink paper, was dropped on his desk. The man that had brought it in ran for it, and Kisa shook his head; people were afraid to associate with the Emerald editors even when they weren't in the midst of Hell Week. Not that he was really complaining, of course; he was perfectly fine just spending his days with the other editors, who at least knew what he was going through when he turned into a zombie the last week of every cycle.

Of course, in the office, he was the cute one, so it wasn't like he could discuss his love life (such as it was) with any of his coworkers, even during those times when they all went out for drinks together. Not that he was ever inclined to inform his boss or fellow editors why he sometimes goes into work late because a wake-up call is not something you think to ask for at a love hotel.

"Kisa-san?"

Yukina's voice broke Kisa out of his musings, and he finally thought to pick up the pink package and look at it. There was an English "S" written on the top of the package in glittery marker, as well as kana spelling out "Happy birthday" on it. Kisa sighed but resisted rolling his eyes. He should've known the manga editors at Sapphire knew when his birthday was by now. Kisa just put the package aside, not particularly caring what the women had chipped in to get him. They found it hilarious to give him flavored lube, and that wasn't something he wanted revealed in front of his new coworker on the man's first day.

"It's your birthday?" Yukina asked as he watched Kisa stash the package away.

Kisa glanced at him and nodded. "Yup, April first. My mother always got a kick out of that."

"I think it's really interesting," Yukina said with his ever-radiant smile. "And it just reminds me that you've managed to accomplish so much at such a young age."

Kisa had been about to move on to the second page of storyboards, but he looked up at that, not quite believing his ears. Even Hatori a couple desks down, who'd been diligently working away on whatever it was he did most of the month, twitched a bit and had to hide a smile at Yukina's remark. Finally, Kisa decided the best thing to do was cough and tap the page closest to his hand with the pen he'd been using as a pointer. "Exactly how old do you think I am?"

Yukina seemed to consider this as the noises of Emerald sounded around them. Since it was the start of the cycle, the office was vibrant and pink, and the non-editing staff wasn't afraid to go anywhere near them. Someone walked from across the office and started conversing with Takano-san about the format of the coming issue and Mino, who'd come in while Yukina and Kisa were in the lounge earlier, was helping Ritsu with something. Only Hatori seemed to have heard their conversation.

"Well," Yukina finally said. "Takano-san said you worked here before him, but you don't look older than twenty. Did you intern before?"

Kisa's eye twitched. Sometimes his looks were a blessing, and sometimes they were a curse. They were mostly only a curse when they made every bar he ever went to look at him suspiciously and card him before letting him drink, but this was rather irritating as well.

"Anyway, did you have something special planned today?"

"…celebrating my birthday kind of lost its wonder to me when I hit thirty," Kisa muttered. When Yukina blinked in confusion, holding the storyboard page Kisa had just explained to him, Kisa dug around in his bag until he produced his ID, which he tossed at Yukina. "Today is my thirty-second birthday."

Yukina just sat there staring down at it, his eyes growing wider and wider as he looked at the information it presented. Finally he opened his mouth, but all he managed to say was, "Are you serious?"

"Yes he is," every single member of Emerald's editing team said at once and Kisa jumped. He hadn't thought anyone was listening to them. They all went back to what they'd been doing, though, like nothing had happened.

Kisa took his ID back from the stunned Yukina. After he had returned it to his bag, he finally thought to ask, "So have you ever seen storyboards before?"

Yukina nodded, and Kisa went back to pointing out editing techniques, only slightly aware of the smile directed at him every time Kisa asked if Yukina understood.

xxx

It was around six o'clock when Kisa left, though he seemed to be the only one in the office other than Hatori. He'd let Yukina go about half an hour ago, saying he had some of his own work to get done and that he didn't need to worry about it. All he really wanted to do was go home and sleep, since he had a feeling the previous night hadn't involved a lot of that. He had a few texts on his phone, and as he glared down at them, his eyes a bit bleary as he tried to read the kana and Kanji, he realized Yukina was standing there in the lobby of Marukawa's first floor.

It looked like Yukina had taken the time between being dismissed and Kisa appearing to change into more casual clothes, and he had a line of earrings in each ear where Kisa hadn't even noticed piercings. Now that he was out of the dress pants and button-up shirt, combined with the earrings, he looked a lot more like the recent college grad he apparently was, and it just made Kisa feel guiltier about any lingering thoughts he'd been having over the day.

"I thought I told you it's okay to go home," Kisa said, hiking his bag back up onto his shoulder. "You didn't have to wait for me."

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, Kisa-san," Yukina said, bowing respectfully. "However, I thought it was a shame that you weren't doing anything for your birthday. Would you like to go out? I know a good place to get cake."

"…no thanks," Kisa said, and he continued on his way through the doors. He was completely aware that Yukina was following him, but he decided to ignore him, at least until he got to a crosswalk and had to wait for the light to turn green. "Why are you so determined to be nice to me? We're just coworkers."

"Is there something wrong with that?" Yukina asked. The light finally turned green, and the two crossed along with the good-sized crowd they had joined. "You edit one of my favorite manga, Kisa-san. I thought I should do something for you."

"It's not like I did it for you or anything," Kisa muttered. He suddenly found himself being pulled along, though, and his eyes went wide when he realized that Yukina was leading him somewhere. He tried to pull away at first, but Yukina had such a determined look on his face that he couldn't help but just shake his head and give-in to the man's desires. It wouldn't hurt to be treated to meals every now and then. The men he slept with certainly didn't seem to have the courtesy beyond a drink or two.

He wasn't quite as impressed, however, when Yukina stopped in front of the café Kisa had breakfast at that morning.

"Is something wrong, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, seeing Kisa's weary expression as he stared at the store sign.

"Oh, nothing. I just… come here sometimes, since it's between my apartment and Marukawa," Kisa said, his voice faint. He could practically feel Yukina's tankobon weighing down his bag, and he knew that if he made it home alive, he'd be tempted to just chuck the thing and be done with it. "It's fine, though."

Yukina smiled before leading the way in and Kisa followed, looking for all the world like he had just been told his cat died.

The café was fairly busy right then with the dinner rush, but since Yukina had mentioned getting him cake, Kisa couldn't help but eye the glass cases that held the ready-made sweets. He was so busy trying to decide which one he wanted that Yukina had to ask him, "What other titles do you edit?" twice before he heard him.

"Huh? Oh, right now?" Kisa thought about that as he considered the ceiling. "Well Girls Master, but that's almost come to an end. That and the one I showed you are the only two regular series I have right now…"

"So if-" Yukina stopped at that, seeming to consider his words. "So if you edit Purple Strawberry, does that mean you edited Pink Strawberry and White Strawberry as well?"

"…yes?" Kisa felt the need to back away, because it seemed that in his excitement, Yukina was starting to lean over the table. "I've been with Marukawa for several years, though, so I've edited a lot of titles…"

By the time the waitress came to take their orders, Yukina had listed off what turned out to be Kisa's entire résumé at Marukawa, right down to the first manga he edited. His eyes positively sparkled as Kisa just ordered tea and a piece of chocolate cake and Yukina said he wasn't hungry.

"I didn't expect to see you back in here so soon, Yukina-san," the waitress said, smiling and holding the serving dish against her chest. "You said you got a new job and I was afraid you'd have to move."

"I work for Marukawa Shoten now," Yukina said and he was, of course, smiling. "This is Kisa-san, one of my coworkers. He's helping me with the department's coming magazine issue."

The waitress glanced at Kisa, ready to move on, but then she stopped. "Ah, I know you. You come in sometimes, though you're usually alone." She glanced between Yukina and Kisa, as if the fact that they were coworkers wasn't enough explanation for why they were having dinner together. Dinner that apparently involved one piece of chocolate cake.

"Kisa-san has also edited all my favorite manga, so I really admire his work," Yukina said.

Kisa's spirit had slowly been raising as Yukina looked at him with such clear adoration, but as Yukina talked to the waitress even as she went to slice a piece of cake for Kisa, Kisa just shook his head. Of course Yukina liked the manga that Kisa edited, but not Kisa himself. He rolled his eyes at himself and slumped back in his chair.

"Here you are, Kisa-san," the waitress said with a smile, placing his tea and cake in front of him. Kisa had to admit that the cake looked delicious, and he was definitely a man who appreciated the sweeter things in life. "If you two need anything else, just let me know."

Kisa nodded at the waitress, and when he turned to look at Yukina, he appeared to be searching through his bag for something. Just as Kisa reached for his fork, Yukina cried out triumphantly and brandished a package of birthday candles and a lighter. Kisa blinked a couple times before saying, "You're serious about this, aren't you?"

"Birthdays shouldn't be taken lightly, Kisa-san," Yukina said, and when Kisa didn't protest, he put a candle on the cake and lit it with a smile. "I know you said you don't like doing anything anymore, but it's kind of sad, isn't it, to spend your birthday at work and then just going home?"

The flame from the small candle danced in Kisa's eyes as he stared at it. Finally, he relented with, "Yeah, I guess. Thanks." He gave Yukina his first genuine smile in days before blowing the candle out.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was Saturday evening, and Kisa, quite frankly, had nothing to do. He could harass his authors about keeping to their deadlines, but that was mostly what he did when he was at work, and there was only so much threatening you could do before they stopped answering your phone calls and ignored your voice messages. And Kisa didn't have the kind of guts it took to leave creepy messages on his authors's answering machines or voice mail boxes like Mino would do if he didn't have the time to go directly there and confront them. It was, of course, still early in the cycle, so these kinds of nights were going to be rare in even just a week.

Kisa was tempted, as he always was when he had nothing to do and no one to see, to just go to a bar and drink his thoughts away. Maybe if he was lucky, he'd find a guy to hook up with before he was too drunk to remember anything that happened. The joy kind of left sex when you couldn't remember it. Suddenly, though, his cell phone rang. Kisa had been slumped over on his couch and had just deposited his phone on his coffee table, so he sighed, rolled onto the floor, and picked it up. A glance at the display showed a name rather than a phone number, but he didn't recognize the name.

"Hello?"

"Shouta."

Kisa sat up straight at that. It had only been four days since he had slept with this particular man, so he at least remembered the guy's voice. Either that or he was horribly mistaken. Either way, it didn't much matter if the man was calling him for the reason men usually called him back.

"Are you busy tonight?" the man asked, not waiting for Kisa to say anything.

Kisa stared up at the ceiling. He could tell the man he'd been working simply because he didn't remember anything about him beyond that morning on April first when he had woken up with the guy beside him in bed. Yes, he'd been drunk, but he still had standards for guys he went back for second rounds with.

"Not at all," Kisa said after all that consideration. "Mind meeting somewhere, though? The neighbors are nosy." Not really, Kisa mused, but reminding the guy exactly where his apartment was seemed like it would encourage him more than anything.

The rest of the exchange was simple, with the man agreeing and Kisa giving the location of the first love hotel he could think of. Some were nicer than others, of course, but it wasn't like it mattered when they were all used for pretty much the same thing. Kisa said he'd be there in about an hour and flipped his phone shut without any kind of formal goodbye. Then he sighed, still laying on the floor. He still didn't remember the guy's name.

Thinking it might jog his memory, he flipped his cell phone open again and started scrolling through the contacts. He wasn't sure how the guy had gotten his information into his phone, or gotten Kisa's phone number, but it was useful to have a name for a face. He clearly needed to clean out his contacts, though, because he had plenty of numbers he'd blocked when the guys got too persistent, and some he didn't recognize at all. He didn't remember what his display had said so finding the contact entry was pointless, but near the end, one entry caught his eye.

Yukina Kou.

Kisa rolled his eyes. Of course Yukina had absconded with Kisa's phone at some point and put his information in. For the hell of it he went into the entry, and there was a custom ringtone set. Kisa squinted at the text and recognized it as Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies. Yukina Kou was going to be the death of him. Kisa just flipped his phone shut and put it in his pocket before heading out.

The love hotel district was off a street that otherwise would've seemed innocent enough. It wasn't like people were completely unaware of what lay beyond the stores and restaurants, but as Kisa walked along, his hands in his pockets, he couldn't help but notice that people seemed a lot happier than Kisa was necessarily comfortable with. It probably wasn't a very good idea to be knee-deep in angst mode on his way to meet a man he planned to sleep with, but he couldn't help it. If he ever had shame about this kind of scenario he'd lost it a long time ago, but there was just something stomach-clenching about the fact that this was his first choice of activity on a Saturday night. Surely he could do better. Perhaps a threesome.

Kisa couldn't help but smile at the mild joke he'd made at his own expense, just in time for someone to call out his name. He wasn't really paying attention and thought maybe it was just that man, not having gotten to the hotel yet and spotting him on the way there. The person had said 'Kisa-san' instead of 'Shouta' though.

As if Kisa's earlier thoughts about the man had magically summoned him, he found himself face-to-face with Yukina Kou. Kisa still wasn't used to seeing the multiple piercings the man sported outside of work and he had to blink as they flashed with the lights from stores around them. "Good evening," Yukina said, bowing.

"Yeah, good evening," Kisa said warily. They saw each other at work every day, of course, but since Yukina had dragged him out for his birthday, they hadn't had any moments that could particularly be described as bonding. His eyes drifted down the street he'd been headed for, and out of curiosity, he said, "Where were you headed?"

"I was going to a movie, actually," Yukina said with a smile. "What about you?"

"…just out for a walk." Kisa wouldn't meet Yukina's eyes and he kept his hands in his pants pockets as if Yukina could tell from his hands that he was lying through his teeth.

"Really?" Yukina sounded excited, and Kisa actually looked up at that, expecting another wild scheme to be put into play any second now. "I was actually supposed to go to this with one of my friends, but she's covering a shift at her work tonight so I have an extra ticket. Would you like to join me?"

Kisa did not, in fact, want to join Yukina in seeing some movie he probably hadn't even heard of. He just wanted to get to the hotel, have one or two good rounds, and sneak off while his partner was asleep. His evening would be made if he could sneak the guy's cell phone away from him at some point and delete his contact information out of it so he'd never be able to call him again. He was, however, conflicted. No matter how much convincing of himself he'd done that day in the café, Yukina always seemed to smile at him so genuinely, whether it was now as he asked Kisa out to a movie, or in the office as he did what he could to help with Kisa's authors for the month.

Therefore, all he could do was think that he was going soft as he said, "Sure." It wasn't like he and the guy who'd called had any kind of commitment to each other, anyway.

xxx

Yukina, Kisa discovered over the hour-and-a-half or some that the movie lasted, had some dramatic reactions to emotional scenes. The movie he'd gotten tickets for was a romance, the cheesy kind that was really only good for bringing a girl to because at least she'd be able to appreciate it. He was kind of used to the general type of content because of how long he'd been editing shojo manga, but he still felt uncomfortable sitting there in the theater with his coworker when it was mostly just straight couples. The lights had already been turned down when they finally entered the showing room, though, so at least they didn't get strange looks as they searched for seats.

His companion, thankfully, wasn't even the most emotional one in the theater, even though he was probably the only guy that looked close to tears at the love confession. Kisa knew he wouldn't be seen if he rolled his eyes or distanced himself from Yukina as much as he could in the narrow seats, but he still stopped himself from doing either. He at least tried to enjoy the movie for what it was, but every ten to twenty minutes, his phone went off in his pocket. He'd at least put it on vibrate on the way to the theater so he didn't get the stink-eye from anyone around them, but it still pissed him off.

Mostly because, every time he bothered looking instead of ignoring it or pressing the button to ignore the call, he saw that it was his original plans for the night, probably getting increasingly impatient with him. The call had been about a half hour before Kisa met Yukina out on the street, so by the time the movie was over, Kisa was almost an hour late to his rendezvous. Fortunately, near the end, the calls had stopped.

"Even in shojo manga, that love confession would've come too quick, though," Kisa protested as they left the theater, sticking together without even thinking about it.

"But don't you think that love at first sight is plausible?" Yukina asked amiably, clearly not into the debate as much as Kisa was.

Kisa snorted. Sure, he had fallen for guys after just seeing them, but he'd never call it love. He might've said it to some when he was younger, but one of the things he'd learned over the years was it was safer to just let it go. The word love had powerful implications.

Suddenly Yukina's phone went off, and he smiled sheepishly and excused himself so he could answer it. Kisa just kept walking; it wasn't like they had to go home together. Kisa didn't even know where Yukina lived, so they could've been going completely different ways for all he knew. He was just staring at the ground, enacting his customary posture of stuffing his hands in his pockets, when he knocked into someone.

"…and here he is."

Kisa's head snapped up, and to his credit, it only took him about five seconds to recognize the man he'd slept with at the start of the cycle. That he still recognized the guy's voice helped too, although he couldn't tell you why he did. Even clearly angry, the guy just sounded bored.

"I've been trying to call you for a while now. Where the hell were you?" he asked, grabbing Kisa at the elbow when he tried to brush past him. "Find another guy to fuck halfway here?"

Kisa snorted. "Like you care. You could probably just pick up someone else if you were standing outside that place long enough."

"So you did." He sounded like the entire thing was extremely hysterical. "I know you told me you like sex, but I thought you could've at least waited when you had a commitment with someone."

"If you're done, you can get your hand the hell off me and keep walking." Kisa tried to pull away but it was to no avail. The guy even started tugging him along, saying something about making up for lost time.

At least until his hand was wrenched from Kisa's sleeve and he found himself pinned with a single arm to the side of a store. Yukina did not look amused as he stared at the guy, considering his next action with the same calculating precision of an assassin, or Mino on an especially bad day. Kisa just stood there, his face seeming conflicting because it wanted to go completely red with a blush but completely white at the same time.

"Are you alright, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, his voice surprisingly gentle compared to the tight grip he had on Kisa's assaulter. Kisa just nodded, gulping and unable to talk. With that he turned to the man and said, "If you have a problem with Kisa-san, I'd thank you to work it out without touching him or insulting him in such a way."

"What are you, his boyfriend?" The man still managed to look like the entire situation was funny despite the hand around his windpipe.

Yukina just smiled. "No, but that doesn't make me any less serious." When the man nodded, panic starting to enter his eyes when the gravity of the situation finally hit him, Yukina let go and just let him stumble off.

They stared at each other for a bit before Yukina's eyes darted to the people who stared at them, trying not to make it obvious they were doing so as they walked by. "…it's too late for the café to be open, but would you like to come over for some coffee?"

All Kisa could do was nod.

xxx

Yukina commented about his apartment being dirty as he opened the door, but when Kisa slipped off his shoes and looked around, he couldn't help but think Yukina was either being modest or had incredibly high standards.

"You have a girlfriend who comes around and cleans for you?" Kisa asked, vaguely noting the single shirt slung over the back of the couch that Yukina probably used as evidence of his "dirty" apartment.

Yukina just smiled from over in the kitchen where he'd been getting some instant coffee ready. "No, I'm single right now actually."

Kisa tried not to show any emotion at this revelation, instead going over to the bookshelf where sketchbooks and several rows of manga were lined up. Kisa ran his finger over the spines of the manga, and he had no idea why, but he was surprised to note that they were all the titles he had edited. Yukina had been serious when he said his favorite manga were all Kisa's.

A steaming mug of coffee was suddenly in his vision, and he jumped in surprise. Yukina had snuck up behind him while he was considering all the titles.

"Thanks," Kisa said, slumping his shoulders and taking the mug. He followed Yukina over to the couch, but ended up sitting on the floor while Yukina took the couch. "For earlier too, I guess." He looked off to the side as he took a sip.

"I know it might not be my business Kisa-san, but what was going on back there?" Yukina's voice was ever-gentle, and even in the tense situation, Kisa could feel himself relaxing.

"You really want to know? You probably won't like me nearly as much," Kisa said, grinning bitterly behind his coffee mug.

"I think I should be the one to decide that, Kisa-san," Yukina said, and when Kisa managed to look at his face, there was nothing but concern on those handsome features.

So, Kisa sighed and leaned back, setting his cup on the coffee table beside him. "I was meeting that guy at a love hotel. I was on my way there when I met with you."

"So you were going to have sex with that man," Yukina said plainly.

"Yeah. It's kind of a regular occurrence in my life." Yukina looked confused, so Kisa clarified with, "The love hotels, not the guy. I barely know who that guy was." He stared down at his lap. "You asked me before if I believe in love at first sight, and I don't. But I tend to fall pretty easily for guys with nice faces. Like yours, I guess."

"Does that mean you like me, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, still sounding neutral, as if he had asked Kisa what the temperature was.

Kisa's head snapped up as he realized what he had said, and he quickly got up. "No! It was just, you know, an example." Then he was on his feet, dusting off his legs as he went. "Anyway, I should probably get home. Thanks again." Kisa ran for it, barely stopping to put on his shoes. Yukina didn't even get up, and despite himself, Kisa was vaguely disappointed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Monday morning saw a rainstorm hitting the area. It had started as Kisa got out of the station, and because he was bad at considering the consequences of his actions, he hadn't brought an umbrella. He'd shaken himself off in the lobby of Marukawa when he got in, but when he went up to Emerald, he was still dripping wet. Takano-san threw him a towel when he got there and muttered something about drying off in the bathroom before he got to work. Kisa nodded, not bothering to ask why Takano-san had a towel in the first place.

Yukina was in there washing his hands when Kisa stopped at a free sink and just stared at his reflection. His clothes were soaked and he could feel himself shivering. He was tempted to go the high-powered hand dryer and just sit under it until he was at least warm, but the stare Yukina was giving him as he rubbed the towel over his head kind of unnerved him.

"What?" Kisa asked, putting the towel around his shoulders and attempting, for probably the fifth time, to ring water out of the end of his shirt. A few drops hit the floor, but otherwise it didn't much work. "I didn't think to bring an umbrella today because it wasn't raining when I left home."

"Kisa-san…" Yukina looked concerned as he simply dried his hands on his pants. "Are you going to be okay? You could catch a cold like that."

"I'll be fine," Kisa said, rolling his eyes even as he continued to shiver. Being April, Marukawa didn't exactly find it in the general budget to have the heat going, so he still shivered.

Yukina just looked at him like he didn't believe him. "We should at least find you a blanket, Kisa-san."

"What are you, my mother? I'm not a kid; I know how to take care of myself," Kisa muttered, going over to the hand dryer and just sticking his arms under it to see how much of himself he could get dry. Yukina looked like he wanted to comment, but his phone suddenly went off. Kisa just glanced at Yukina as he talked, the sound of the hand dryer drowning out the other end.

"Lunch? Yes, of course. Would you want to stay here or go somewhere?" A pause, and then, "The lounge is fine. I made lunch so I don't have to get something, anyway. I'll see you then."

Kisa ducked his head and decided that he was dry enough so Takano-san wouldn't start bitching at him. Mostly, though, he just didn't want to stay there much longer, because he'd be tempted to ask who that was on the phone. It could be completely innocent, or it could be a woman that had already gone in for the kill and asked Yukina out.

Not that, of course, Kisa would've done it if someone else hadn't first. It was the principle of the thing, really. Kisa was known to move fast, it was true, but Yukina getting interest so fast seemed to piss him off more than it would've normally.

Yukina left for lunch before Kisa decided to take his. When Kisa finally did, he decided to just go down to the lounge and get something out of the vending machines. Normally he at least had a prepared meal from a store, but with the rain, he hadn't thought to stop anywhere after getting off the train. He just waved to Takano-san and said he was going to lunch, not waiting for his boss's answer.

There were a few people in the lounge, but Kisa didn't notice Yukina sitting there until he'd already gotten a bag of crackers. He was sitting at one of the tables with someone else, and Kisa couldn't help but notice there were a few women around, fawning in some not-so-subtle ways. Kisa couldn't help himself; he continued to stand there at the vending machine, listening in.

"I'm doing quite well, actually," Yukina said. Kisa still hadn't gotten a look at his conversation partner. "Right now I'm working with one of the editors to get a feel for how the cycle works. I'm told that if I do well enough, I'll be assigned my own author in a month or two."

"Well, I still think you'd be put to better use in sales."

Kisa suddenly looked up, startled. Yukina's conversational partner was Yokozawa Takafumi, a member of Marukawa's sales department. He was an abrasive man who knew what he wanted and how to get it. Fortunately for Kisa's ease of mind, he'd been in a relationship with the editor-in-chief of Marukawa's shonen division for over a year at that point. Yokozawa was a lot of things, but a cheater wasn't one of them.

Kisa then shook his head, unable to believe those thoughts even entered it. What did he care if Yukina had admirers? Of course he would; he was a handsome guy with such a sweet disposition that he couldn't help but attract people. It had certainly worked to pull Kisa in, albeit it kicking and screaming.

"I suppose I would have done well," Yukina said, staring down at his can of a drink Kisa couldn't identify from that distance. "However, I spent so much time working at the bookstore, that I feel like I'd like to make manga rather than help sell them. Of course letting others know about manga I really love is another of my priorities, but editors work with sales so I wouldn't be completely giving it up." He then considered his food, just a simple sandwich and some baby carrots. "Besides, Takano-san assigned Kisa Shouta to help me for the month. Kisa-san has made all my favorite series, so I think being able to watch his process will be a good experience for me."

Suddenly, Yokozawa leaned around Yukina and looked over to the vending machines. Kisa jumped in surprise and ran for it. That man really did unnerve him.

"Kisa, you got a call while you were gone," Hatori said as soon as Kisa sat down. Yukina was still down in the lounge with Yokozawa, and the only other people in the office right then seemed to be Hatori and Ritsu. "It was from Okamoto-sensei."

Kisa perked up at that. Okamoto was the author of Purple Strawberry, and she had assured him repeatedly during a call the previous day that she'd get her chapter outline to him for approval that day. He was torn between being glad to hear from her and thinking she was probably going to beg him for an extension of some kind. Either way, he picked up his landline and dialed her cell phone.

"Oh Kisa-san, thank goodness! I was afraid you wouldn't call me back," came Okamoto's voice as soon as the call went through. "The power went out at my apartment so I can't fax or email you the material."

Kisa glanced out a nearby window to see the storm was raging outside about as bad as it had been when he went in that morning. He considered his options for maybe half a minute as Okamoto continued to apologize profusely and say things about how of course the power would go out the one time she actually sticks to her deadlines, when Kisa glanced at Hatori before saying, "I'll be over and pick them up myself. I need to introduce one of the new editors to some of authors, anyway."

"Oh! Thank you so much Kisa-san," Okamoto said. If she had been there in front of him, she probably would've bowed so low she'd end up down on her knees. Kisa sighed but smiled; it was good for authors to show their respect to him. Unfortunately, it happened so little that Kisa was always surprised when it did. If he expected respect, Takano-san had once told him, he should probably be in a different profession. It was sadly true.

"Yukina!" Kisa shouted as soon as he saw Yukina walking back into the office. He picked up both their coats from over their chairs and tossed Yukina's to him. "We have to go pick up materials from one of my authors."

"Yes, Kisa-san!" Yukina said without question.

Yukina had an umbrella, it turned out, and he held it over Kisa as they walked. Kisa just stared at him like he thought he was insane, but Yukina also had a raincoat on, with the hood pulled over his head and his bangs dripping into his eyes.

"Just give me that," he said in a huffy way, snatching the umbrella for himself. "If you're not going to use it, there's no point in you holding it."

"If you say so, Kisa-san," Yukina said, and the smile never left his face. It pissed Kisa off, having to look at that content expression while he was feeling vaguely like he could kill something.

To distract himself from that particular train of thought, he turned to Yukina and said, "So why were you having lunch with Yokozawa-san today?"

"Oh, you saw us?" Yukina staring up at the grey sky, letting drops of rain fall onto his face. "Yokozawa-san would visit the bookstore I used to work at, since our sales for Emerald titles were so high. A few months back, I mentioned to him that I'd be graduating, and he said I should apply at Marukawa. He wanted me in sales, but… well, as you can see, I applied as an editor instead."

They had gotten to the train station by then, and Kisa put down the umbrella and closed it. While doing this, though, Yukina asked which stop they needed. Kisa told him without thinking, and when he finally had the umbrella under his arm, he turned to Yukina only to be faced with a ticket. Kisa narrowed his eyes. "I could've paid for it myself, you know."

"I know, Kisa-san," Yukina said, but that seemed to be the end of the argument, such as it had been.

xxx

Kisa was used to seeing his authors in bad sorts, considering his visits were usually to help them with pages that were overdue and not even started. However, as Okamoto opened the door of her combined apartment/art studio holding a candle and a vaguely defeated look on her face, Kisa couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"Good afternoon, Okamoto-sensei," Kisa said, a smile on his face. He bowed deeply, which Okamoto seemed to appreciate, at least. "I've come to pick up your chapter outline. Do you have it with you?"

"Yes." Okamoto turned into her apartment, which was pitch-black due to the lack of any kind of light. Some streetlights had come on because of how dark the storm made it, but the place was too high up for the light from them to come in through her windows. "I'm so thankful that you were willing to come and get this, Kisa-san. My assistants were afraid I'd go out on my own when I called them and asked what I should do."

"Ah, didn't you get hurt the last time you tried to come over to Marukawa?" Kisa asked, gratefully accepting the envelope containing the chapter outline material.

"Yes." Okamoto looked sheepish, and she stared down at her bare feet. "I broke my leg trying to go up the stairs of the subway. I believe you visited me in the hospital and got my material then."

Kisa put his hands on his hips. "You act like that's all I cared about! I brought you candy, didn't I?"

"Yes you did." The smile returned to Okamoto's features, and then she turned and finally saw Yukina standing there behind Kisa. "You must be that new editor Kisa-san mentioned over the fun. My name is Okamoto Shinju. It's good to meet you."

"Yukina Kou." He smiled radiantly as he bowed. "I've admired your work for a long time, Okamoto-sensei. I have all of them on my shelf at home."

"You don't say." Okamoto smiled at that, looking slightly less haggard. "Would you two like to come in?"

Yukina looked into the apartment. The power was still, of course, out, and there were a bunch of candles set up all over the place. It seemed Okamoto had been trying to get work done despite having no light. If Kisa had any less sense of mind, he might've just hugged her. He had no idea what had made her suddenly so productive, but if it was her power going out, he might've just set her up in a place with no electricity for the better part of the month.

"I'm very sorry, but there was actually somewhere I wanted to go while I'm in the area. Maybe another time, Okamoto-san." Yukina bowed, and somehow, Okamoto didn't look mad in the least that she was being rejected. Kisa bowed as well and Okamoto went back into her apartment, muttering something about calling one of her assistants to see if she could go over to their place.

Once Yukina and Kisa got outside, Kisa put up the umbrella but stayed under the apartment building's overhand until Yukina noticed he had stopped walking and turned back around. "Is something the matter, Kisa-san?"

"You didn't have to give excuses, you know," Kisa said, staring off to the side. "You could've stayed if you wanted. Not like you have much to do right now."

"I wasn't making excuses, Kisa-san." Yukina stepped back under the overhand and leaned against the wall beside Kisa. "The bookstore I used to work for is in this area. I thought it might be nice to bring you over there. I'm sure Takano-san wouldn't mind."

Kisa laughed bitterly but only in his head. If Takano-san knew the two had finished their business so quickly and hadn't gone back to the office, he'd probably be royally pissed and possibly start throwing blunt object at them. Takano-san wasn't usually as easily provoked so early in the cycle, but he was kind of like a time bomb missing its timer that way: you know it'll go off eventually, so you're always a bit nervous as you tiptoe around and try to figure out a way to defuse it.

Still, what Yukina had said earlier about the store having high sales of Emerald books made him curious. He'd probably seen the store on his sales list before and just ignored it since it was an indie place instead of a big chain store like Marimo Books, the one Kisa frequented. If nothing else, he was interested in finding out how a small store like that was able to sell so many books.

So, in the end, Kisa just shrugged and said, "Sure. Lead the way."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It was still raining when they finally got to the small building that housed Nuigurumi Books. Because it was an independent store rather than a chain one, Kisa had expected it to maybe look a little quirky, not having to stick to the standards the company gave them. What he didn't expect was the huge display in the window, presenting any who passed by with a healthy selection of shojo manga. Kisa knew, of course, that they were shojo manga right away mostly because of their covers. They were completely pink and bore female characters. Kisa almost wanted to ask what was up with it, but Yukina just smiled and led the way in, acting like the thing was no big deal.

"Yukina-kun!" There was a man at the register and Kisa jumped in surprise; he was a big guy, even taller than Yukina, but in Kisa's admittedly non-expert opinion, he didn't look like he could harm a fly. However, the distance Kisa had to look up to meet his eye unnerved him more than he was ready to admit.

"Hello, Yamamoto-san," Yukina said, bowing. "I was in the area, so I thought I'd see how you're all doing."

"Ah, it's only been a week; do you really think we can't take care of ourselves for that long?" Yamamoto swept his arm across the store, which was pretty clean and tidy. "It'll be at least a month before we all realize we're lost without you and this place has a nuclear meltdown."

Yukina couldn't help but smile at that, until he realized that Yamamoto was giving Kisa a strange look. "Yamamoto-san, this is Kisa Shouta, my senpai at Marukawa. Kisa-san, this is Yamamoto Takashi, one of the managers here."

"It's good to meet you," Kisa muttered, bowing. He suddenly felt eyes on him, and when he turned around, there was a group of girls coming in. Their eyes lit up when they saw Yukina, but instead of approaching him, they went immediately to the section of shelves labeled shojo, seeming like they thought it would summon him.

Yamamoto looked amused as he said, "Those girls still visit practically every day. I told them that you don't work here anymore, but they seemed to be holding out hope that you would come back in for a visit. Are you going to talk to them?"

"I suppose so." Yukina smiled again and excused himself from the two before going over to the shojo shelves for himself.

Kisa didn't really feel comfortable following Yukina over there so he just stayed at the counter. Of course, he didn't really feel comfortable around Yamamoto, mostly because he was such a bear of a man, but it was the lesser of two evils. He spent enough time around giggling girls when the Sapphire editors offered to buy him drinks in exchange for stories. He was not getting free drinks out of this particular scene, however, so he was quite content staying where he was.

"So you work in shojo manga, huh?" Yamamoto asked. When Kisa nodded hesitantly, Yamamoto continued with, "Yukina-kun was so ecstatic when he got accepted into Emerald. We were all sad to see him go, of course. He was probably our best salesman, even though he usually only sold manga."

"Yeah, I think I heard about that," Kisa said, mostly just trying to make conversation. "Yukina said one of the guys from sales would come in here every now and then because of how well you guys did selling Emerald titles."

"Ah, Yukina's special alright." He waved his hand over to Yukina, who looked like he was having a grand old time as he chatted with the girls. Kisa had seen his sparkly mode plenty of times; it was even often directed at him, as if Yukina thought he needed to get in Kisa's good graces. As if he needed to, Kisa thought bitterly, when he was already past the 'good graces' part of their relationship. Not that Yukina knew that, or ever would. "He'd manage to sell a couple hundred copies of his favorite books over a month. Those girls and many others would come in here and spend time just so they could talk to him."

"You don't say." Kisa leaned against the counter, looking disinterested.

"Flirted shamelessly he did." Yamamoto looked even more amused than before. "They're good girls, though. You'd probably do the same."

"Nah. My mother's favorite way to describe me is 'incredibly gay.'" Kisa leaned further against the counter, staring up at the ceiling. There were a lot of mobiles hanging from it, mostly with cards with pictures of book covers glued onto both sides. "Never had feelings for girls. Not like I'm ashamed of it."

"That's the spirit!" Yamamoto clapped Kisa on the shoulder. "It's good to be so sure of yourself at such a young age."

Kisa narrowed his eyes for a few seconds, rubbing his shoulder and almost resenting his young looks right then. Instead, though, he just said, "If you say so."

"Oh, Yukina-san, is that your little brother?"

Kisa definitely did resent his young looks at that, though. He pushed himself away from the counter and walked over to Yukina and the girls now that they had noticed him. They were all smiling at him like the was the cutest thing ever, meaning they probably thought he was an underage teenager at the oldest.

"Ah, this is Kisa Shouta, my coworker at Marukawa." Yukina's smile was still pretty sparkly, but there seemed to be something warmer about it now that Kisa was there beside him. The girls seemed to miss that particular detail, though, mostly because they were acting amazed at how someone so young could be a manga editor. "We were just picking up a chapter outline from one of his authors who lives in the area, so I thought I'd show him this store."

"Ooh, can we see?" one of the girls asked, eying the envelope that Kisa still had in his hands.

Kisa frowned at that, hugging the envelope to him a bit tighter before saying, "I'm afraid not. These count as classified documents. My boss would have my head if I let the public see them."

"Hmph, he looks young but he sounds like an old man," another girl said, turning back to Yukina.

"I'm probably twice your age," Kisa said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes and instead putting on that bright smile he used in the office for when he was interacting with Ritsu. They just gaped at him, whether at his innocent smile or his statement, he didn't know. Instead of figuring it out, though, he turned to Yukina and said, "We should probably get back to the office now. I'd rather not have Takano-san call Okamoto-sensei and have her say that we already left. He'll have my head."

"I can always tell him it was my fault, Kisa-san," Yukina said, but he followed Kisa towards the door anyway. They hadn't been in there that long, so it wasn't like the rain had time to stop. Yukina watched as Kisa took his umbrella back out and opened it up, gazing up at the sky as they walked towards the train station. Yukina himself had put up the hood on his raincoat, the shiny plastic glistening as drops of water ran down it.

The streets were a sea of variously colored umbrellas, and Yukina couldn't help but let his eyes drift over all of them as they walked. Kisa finally noticed this, and he asked, "What are you looking at?"

"I'm just thinking that this would make a nice picture," he said, his eyes still going over all of them like he was memorizing it for later.

"Ah, you said you were an art major in college."

"Yes," Yukina said, nodding. "I still draw or paint every night, though Takano-san has told me I won't really have the time for that when it gets to be later in the month."

"That's an understatement," Kisa said with a laugh. Then he thought of something, and he looked over his shoulder. Nuigurumi Books was still somewhat visible, though from the angle they were at, you couldn't see that outrageous display sitting in their window that Kisa had encountered when they walked in. "By the way, what was with that display at the store?"

"Oh, you mean the one for shojo manga?" Yukina brightened at that, finally taking his eyes away from the people around him. "I made that last year at Yamamoto-san's suggestion. I guess they decided to keep it."

Kisa thought of the outrageously pink thing, with all the frills and hearts and the mechanical bunny at the top that waved its arm around, and he just gaped at Yukina, who didn't seem to get that there was something wrong with it. "You made that."

"Yes. Well, admittedly, I had some help with the mechanical parts, but otherwise I did design it and put it together." Yukina sounded proud of himself as he said it. "They use it for general shojo manga purposes now, but when I first made it, all I put in it were the manga you edited, Kisa-san."

"You didn't even know I edited all those back then," Kisa muttered, twirling the umbrella around in his hands for something to do.

"No, but that still doesn't change the fact that they were all yours." Yukina had a warm smile as they finally reached the train station. Before he could reach up and get tickets for both of them, Kisa gave him a glare and did it himself. Yukina just continued to smile as Kisa handed him a ticket.

xxx

There were more people in Emerald than there usually were when Kisa and Yukina got back to the office. Yukina wasn't quite sure what to think; lurking outside the doorways were three women, all watching the employees coming and going like they were expecting something to happen. Kisa just sighed and told Yukina to ignore them, but Yukina, ever the gentleman, couldn't really bring himself to do that.

"Excuse me, are you looking for someone?" he asked as he approached.

The women jumped in surprise and turned to look at him. "You must be the new editor," she said, looking excited. "We're editors from over in Sapphire. We're just down the hall actually."

"Ah, yes, I think I've seen the offices before," Yukina said. "My name is Yukina Kou."

The girls were practically squealing with delight as they all introduced themselves, but Yukina paid it no mind. If that fan club he and Kisa encountered when visiting the bookstore was any indication, Yukina was quite used to girls freaking out over him. And, Kisa thought bitterly as he went back over to his desk, flirting with girls in turn.

"What department is Sapphire, anyway?" Yukina asked.

"BL," Kisa offered from his desk. At that point he'd taken the chapter outline papers from the envelope and was looking over them. Or, at least attempting to, considering he was mostly using it as an excuse to not look like he was listening to the conversation.

"Oh, I see," Yukina said, the smile still on his face. "At the bookstore I used to work at, the shojo section and the BL section were actually beside each other, so I'd read them sometimes."

The women's eyes went collectively wide, and they started grilling him on what titles he had read and what he thought about them. Takano-san was over at his desk, looking rather pissed-off that they were still there, but he didn't bother saying anything. He just sat there with a cup of coffee and his glasses perched on his nose as he went through his work.

Finally, though, the Sapphire editors had to get back to their own office. Kisa waved goodbye out of courtesy and Yukina bowed before going back to his desk beside Kisa.

"You don't find that kind of thing weird?" Kisa asked as Yukina reached for the chapter outline material Kisa had gotten done reading. They still had to edit it, of course, and let Okamoto know about the changes, but it was easier to collaborate when they'd both read it first. "BL manga, I mean."

"What would be so weird about it, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, his eyes scanning the page before him.

'Two guys together, I guess," Kisa said, shrugging. "That stuff is mostly made for women, anyway."

Yukina seemed to think about this for a while, the only sound around them the general murmur of the office. Then he turned to Kisa and said, "For me, at least, I don't really care about gender when it comes to love. If it's a woman, fine. If it's a man," and here he shrugged, "I don't see the problem with that. Whether in literature or my own life."

Kisa was struck dumb at that, unable to do anything but stare at his coworker as he went about reading. He had the stray thought here and there, of course, but like those girls that apparently went in to see him several times a week at Nuigurumi Books, he had assumed that Yukina was incredibly straight. He found himself blushing as he averted his eyes to anywhere but him, at least until Takano-san said, "Kisa, get back to work."

"Yes, boss."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Kisa's day was not going particularly well. It was mostly because of his authors, of course, who contrary to how at least Okamoto had acted, were not that willing to get their material in on time or, God forbid, early. He and Yukina had worked on the chapter outlines and gotten them in so the authors could do the storyboards. They had been due the previous day, and as Kisa left Emerald while Takano-san was distracted, he couldn't help but feel like he'd be hunting them down the next day if he didn't see some faxes on his desk in the morning. Tonight, however, he planned to just get some beer and drown his sorrows.

His brilliant plan was ruined, however. The first factor was Yukina running after him, asking if he had something planned this evening. Just as he was about to say he planned to spend some time alone, his phone went off.

"Aren't you going to answer it, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, eying the phone curiously. Kisa had been glaring at it, but when Yukina said that, he sighed and took it out of its holder. Kisa looked rather put-out when he looked at the caller display, and Yukina watched in amusement as he flipped the thing open.

"Shiori, what do you want?" Kisa snapped.

"Shouta! Is that any way to treat your little sister?"

Kisa narrowed his eyes and looked over to Yukina, who didn't look like he had heard the other side of the conversation. He frowned and turned away just in case before saying, "I've had a bad day."

"Well, maybe your darling niece can make it better?"

"Shiori, right now the only thing that would make it better would be drowning my sorrows."

"And finding a random guy to have sex with. Yeah, yeah I know the drill." Shiori was probably rolling her eyes at that point. Kisa knew his sister's habits. "Listen, Arata's working late tonight, but I already made plans under the assumption he'd be able to watch Shizuko. You don't spend nearly enough time with my child."

"I haven't seen your face in two months, of course I don't," Kisa said.

There was silence on the other end, and Kisa glanced behind him to see Yukina was still standing there, watching Kisa during this whole exchange. Kisa frowned at him before tuning back in to Shiori, who was saying, "Please, Shouta? Our regular babysitter is sick."

"You're always bitching at me that I need to be more responsible, so why would you trust me with your two-year-old kid?" Kisa asked, but his voice sounded almost resigned.

"Because," Shiori said, her voice going slightly quieter. "In the end, you're my older brother. And you did help me a lot growing up. I don't want my own child to miss that opportunity, because she's not getting a younger sibling. If I have to go through childbirth again I'm getting a sex change."

Kisa's face immediately warped from a scowl into an amused grin, and Yukina seemed startled when he started laughing. Kisa wasn't sure if he really found his sister's joke amusing or if he had just finally broken, but he went on like that for a full minute until he was gasping for breath and had to get control of himself. "Fine. But don't make a habit out of this. You know how busy I am."

"Yeah, yeah, your glamorous life as an editor for girls' manga. I bet that gets you _tons_ of men," Shiori said, clearly making fun of him.

Kisa glanced over at Yukina, who still showed no signs of knowing what Kisa's conversation was about. "More than you'd think. I'll be home in about half an hour."

"Okay! I'll be in around then."

"What was that about, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked as soon as Kisa put his phone away.

Even though Kisa had stopped laughing, the grin was still on his face as they started back towards the station. "Ah, my sister managed to guilt me into babysitting her daughter tonight. I guess there go my plans."

"Plans?"

"Well, they mostly involved locking myself in my apartment and not remembering the rest of the night. Alcohol makes everything better." He smiled to himself just thinking about it, though Yukina looked less amused. "Anyway, I guess I'll take care of her for a few hours and hope maybe my authors contact me in that time."

"Would you like some help?"

Kisa stopped at that, surprised. He turned around to face Yukina, as if looking the taller man in the eye would confirm that he hadn't just heard things. "You'd seriously want to spend the evening with me and my two-year-old niece?"

"I don't see why not." Yukina smiled as he hiked his bag back up on his shoulder. "And if the storyboards come in, we can start working on them together."

Kisa knew, in the end, that if he tried to tell Yukina no it wouldn't work. So he just nodded and they were off.

xxx

"Your apartment is bigger than mine, Kisa-san," Yukina said, looking all around, including at the ceiling.

Kisa had to admit that he was mildly amused by how easily impressed Yukina was. "It's not like it's a huge mansion or anything, it's just an apartment."

Yukina didn't seem willing to accept that, but just as he had slipped off his shoes and went to hang his coat on the wrack Kisa indicated, there came a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Kisa said as Yukina headed to answer it. Yukina was still standing there in the genkan, though, and so when Shiori, a slightly more aged-looking version of her older brother, looked in to the apartment, she crinkled her nose.

"Shouta, you knew I was bringing Shizuko over. How the hell did you still manage to pick up one of your flings?" she said. Shizuko was standing behind her, holding onto her skirt and peeking around like she was the shyest little girl in the world.

Yukina didn't seem perturbed at all, but he wasn't correcting Shiori. So Kisa rolled his eyes and said, "He's my coworker. He was there with me when you called and offered to help with Shizuko tonight."

"Oh really," Shiori said, glancing between them. She didn't look like she believed it for a minute, but she still glanced at her watch and jumped. "Ah, I have to get going. Thanks for babysitting, Shouta! I'll make it up to you, I swear!" And she was gone.

Kisa closed the door and looked down at his niece, who'd immediately toddled over to Yukina. She'd had a toy truck in her hand and apparently found it imperative that she explain what kind of noises it makes. With his niece distracted, Kisa decided it would be a good idea to actually check his fridge and see what they could make for dinner.

Not much, as it turned out. "Uh, Yukina, do you want to just order out? I don't have much here in the way of, you know, food."

"Don't you think Shizuko-chan should have a home cooked meal?" Yukina asked, looking up from where Shizuko had been running the hot-pink toy truck over the coffee table. "We can go to the store and get something."

Kisa didn't look like he particularly enjoyed the thought, but when he went over to check his wallet, the frown that immediately came to his face decided it for him. "Fine."

xxx

"What kind of food does Shizuko-chan like?" Yukina asked as they walked along in the grocery store. Shizuko was wiggling in Kisa's arms, reaching for everything from fly swatters to boxes of sugar as they tried to decide what to make for dinner.

"I don't know, Shiori never told me," Kisa muttered, rearranging his niece so she couldn't reach the shelves anymore.

"Chicken!" Shizuko said, prying herself out of her uncle's arms and hitting the floor with a thump, albeit on her feet. "Momma makes chicken."

"She probably makes those pre-cooked chicken strips, knowing her," Kisa said, rolling his eyes. "Just get stuff for soup or something, Shizuko doesn't need another adult in her life fattening her up."

Yukina couldn't help but smile at that, and his smile only widened when Shizuko ran over to him and made him pick her up. "You're better at taking care of children than you seem to think, Kisa-san." Shizuko seemed content to just sit there in Yukina's arms as the three headed towards the canned soup section.

"Yeah right," Kisa muttered, folding his arms like a petulant child.

"You seem like you'd be that doting uncle who always gives his niece or nephew treats when they visit."

"And yet I'm the uncle who has to be forced to spend time with his niece."

"Shouta, candy!" Shizuko demanded, rising up above Yukina's shoulder and holding out her hand expectantly. She and Kisa had a stare-down, but Shizuko was smart enough to know that her uncle would have some. Finally, Kisa reached into his pocket and gave her a lollipop he'd been saving for later.

"Fine, take it," he said, taking the wrapping off. Shizuko looked absolutely pleased and stuck it in her mouth even before taking the stick for herself. Kisa winced and wiped the spit off his hand on his pants. "Didn't your mother every teach you manners?"

"Mamma says I'm a lady," Shizuko said in a rather amazing moment of clarity.

Kisa muttered darkly to himself as Yukina put Shizuko down and started looking at the ingredients on the canned soup, saying something about how Shizuko shouldn't have too much sodium. Shizuko immediately went over to Kisa and took his hand, evidently trained to stay with adults at all times. Yukina had gone through about five cans when Kisa was aware of the eyes on him.

When he turned around, he was not surprised to see a group of three women staring at him. "Can I help you?"

"Oh!" One of the women stepped forward and Yukina, having finally picked a can of vegetable soup, turned and looked at her with interest. "We were just wondering… how long ago you two adopted her."

Kisa blinked rapidly, looked down at Shizuko, looked over to Yukina, then dropped Shizuko's hand and sat down right there on the floor, clearly unable to deal with this question. Yukina, of course, couldn't help but put what he probably saw as a comforting hand on Kisa's head before he said, "Shizuko-chan is actually Kisa-san's niece. We're just watching her for the evening."

The women all smiled, and they and Yukina talked for a bit before they finally realized they had their own things to do and left for another aisle. Kisa was still sitting there on the floor, but he blinked when Shizuko tapped him on the shoulder, finally seeming to realize something. "You do know those women still think we're a couple, right?"

"Is there something wrong with that, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked as Kisa got up. They still had a few things to get, since Yukina insisted Kisa needed something healthy in his apartment eve if it was still microwavable meals, so they continued down the aisles.

"We're not."

"No, I suppose we're not."

Kisa just gave him an odd look as they continued on.

Yukina insisted on paying for the food, and eventually, Kisa gave in. He was just standing there at the end of the register, keeping Shizuko from grabbing things, when his phone started ringing. It was, of course, Shiori.

"I thought you were busy," was Kisa's greeting.

"Aw, I just wanted to see how my big brother was doing babysitting," Shiori said. "And you know, I still don't trust you when you say that guy wasn't one of your flings."

"For your information, we're currently at the supermarket because Yukina wanted to cook and there was nothing but instant noodles in my apartment," Kisa said indignantly. He had no idea why he felt the need to defend his honor at this point, but here he was. "And for bonus fun, a group of women approached us and asked how long ago we adopted Shizuko."

"…oh really," Shiori said, sounding interested and a little bit amused.

"Of course you would find it funny." Kisa was pouting by then, and Shizuko had taken to imitating him, standing there at his side with her bottom lip jutted out and her arms folded. "This is why I shouldn't have agreed to babysit."

"Why, so you could have sex with that handsome stud unimpeded?" Shiori still just sounded amused at that point.

"I haven't even kissed the guy!"

"…oh really."

"Would you stop that?"

At that point, Yukina had checked out and was waiting to go, so Kisa sighed and said, "I'm hanging up now, Shiori. I'll see you in a couple hours."

"Go get 'im, Oniichan."

Kisa glanced at Yukina, who was just smiling down at Shizuko as she tugged the bottom of his shirt and asked for more candy even as she had the lollipop Kisa had given her in her mouth. Instead of answering his sister, he just flipped his phone shut and put it away.

xxx

Cooking was hard work, apparently, because Yukina had passed out on Kisa's couch before Shiori showed up to collect her daughter. He had mumbled halfhearted complaints about Kisa doing all the cleanup, but Kisa just rolled his eyes and pushed him out of the kitchen. It was the least he could do, after all, after all of Yukina's hard work. Not that he'd ever say that out loud.

"Shouta, kiss," Shizuko said, tugging on Kisa's shirt as he washed dishes. Kisa glanced down at Shizuko, expecting her to be presenting her cheek to him so he could give her a kiss, but instead she was pointing into the living room. "Yuki kiss."

"…why would I do that?"

"Kiss goodnight!" Shizuko said. "Mommy kisses Daddy."

Kisa could feel his eye twitching, and it wasn't just at Shizuko's implication that he was the woman in the relationship- or lack thereof, in this case. Before he could think up an answer that wouldn't send Shizuko into tears, however, there came a knock at his door. Kisa sighed in relief and took off his rubber gloves.

"Momma!" Shizuko exclaimed as soon as the door was open. She launched herself into her mother's arms, giggling and babbling about the few hours she'd spent with "Shouta and Yuki." Kisa averted his eyes, eventually landing on Yukina, who had started to stir over on the couch. He joined them at the doorway, a smile on his face.

"Good evening, Shiori-san," he said, bowing. "I hope you had a good time tonight."

"Oh you wouldn't even believe it," she said, sounding tired but happy. Then she gave Kisa and Yukina a sidelong glance and said, "And how was your evening?"

"I think you already know the answer to that question, Shiori," Kisa said, sounding annoyed. But then his eyes softened as Shizuko smiled at him. "I guess it wasn't so bad. But no, that doesn't mean I can watch her more."

"Yes, you've got such a vibrant social life," Shiori said, smiling at her brother but glancing at Yukina. "Well, I'm sure you two have plenty of things to do now that you don't have a small child to take care of, so I'll let you do that." There was, of course, a suggestive tone to that statement, but she wouldn't say anything. Shizuko was in her parrot stage, after all.

Yukina, however, seemed to have genuinely missed it. "I'm afraid Kisa-san's authors didn't get their storyboards in yet, so I'll probably just go home." And there was that sparkling smile.

"Oh really," Shiori said. "So Shouta wasn't lying when he said you're coworkers."

"No he wasn't. Kisa-san is helping me, since I'm new to the job," Yukina said.

"So there's nothing going on between you two."

Yukina glanced over at Kisa, and for a split second, Shiori and Kisa both saw a strange look in his eye. But then he said, "I greatly admire Kisa-san and I hope he at least considers me a friend at this point."

Shiori didn't look like she quite believed him, but all she did was say, "Goodnight, you two," and take Shizuko's baby bag from Kisa before heading out.

As soon as the door was closed, Kisa sighed in relief. "Heh, that wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be," he said, still facing the door. He knew Yukina was right behind him, though. "I guess I don't give kids enough credit. Too bad I do give my authors too much credit. Not even an apology note." He slid his eyes over to his personal fax machine before turning around.

Right into Yukina who, much to Kisa's surprise, leaned down and pressed their lips together. "Yukina, what-" Kisa flailed his arms for a second, until Yukina's tongue was in his mouth. At that point, his eyes fell closed and he leaned back against the door for support, feeling rather weak-kneed as he kissed back. He reached up and looped his arms around Yukina's neck, pulling the man closer as much as he could given their height difference.

It was at this time that Kisa's cell phone decided to go off. The disturbance broke Kisa out of whatever haze his mind had been stuck in, and he pushed Yukina away, his face bright red. In an attempt to save face he at least checked his phone; it was simply a text from Okamoto, saying she had her pages almost done and she'd fax them to his home by the end of the night. Kisa flipped his phone shut and put a hand to his forehead, looking absolutely mortified.

"Don't you have to get home?" he muttered to Yukina, who'd been standing there with a confused look on his face the entire time.

"Kisa-san…"

"Just… go home. I'll see you tomorrow." He couldn't even look Yukina in the face as he stepped away from the door and let Yukina through.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The day hadn't gone as well as Kisa had hoped it would. A representative from one of the animation companies Marukawa worked with was there, and Kisa had prepared an entire presentation about one of his finished series. Based on sales figured, volumes were still selling even though it had been over for nearly a year, and so he had felt confident that he could pitch it for an anime, or at least an OVA.

In the end, however, it hadn't worked out so well. Another presenter had run over with their own meeting and the guy had had to leave just as Kisa was informed he could go in. It was nothing personal, Kisa tried to convince himself, but it was little things like this that were constantly happening to him. He was always the one ignored, no matter how hard he worked or how much Takano-san told him that he was a good editor. Words meant nothing without results, after all.

"Kisa-san?"

Kisa cringed, remembering the other thing about his day that wasn't going quite as planned. Whenever he saw Yukina he couldn't help but remember that kiss, and so he'd been making up excuses all day to either not be in the office or for Yukina to have to leave. It was nearly five o'clock, though, and he still didn't have his storyboards even though Okamoto had said she'd get hers in the previous night. Kisa had been ready to call it a day when Yukina finally found him there in the office, surrounded by notes about project proposals and sales charts he was supposed to transfer to his laptop. He could do it at home, though, as he was feeling too drained for the hectic atmosphere Emerald got the closer it was to Hell Week.

"I'm heading home," Kisa said, tossing his bag onto his shoulder and attempting to elbow his way past Yukina, who was standing there in the entrance of the office. When it didn't succeed, he glared up at Yukina and said, "I said I'm going home. What's your problem?"

"Um, that is…" Yukina looked like he was choosing his words carefully. "Takano-san told me what happened with the animator so I thought I'd make sure you were okay. He also said something about you should have just grabbed the guy and forced him to sit down again but I don't think that was entirely relevant…"

Kisa just rolled his eyes and finally managed to push past Yukina. "I'm fine. This kind of thing happens all the time."

"Really?" Yukina asked, a frown on his face. Kisa just nodded, continuing down the hall. "Kisa-san, don't feel bad. Your series are all amazing."

Kisa stopped at that, and he ducked his head. "Why am I being consoled by the newbie?"

"I'm being sincere," Yukina said, and his voice certainly displayed it. "I really love your series, Kisa-san, and if they can't see how amazing they are then they're missing out." He suddenly reached out and put a hand on Kisa's shoulder. "Besides, I do care about you, Kisa-san."

Kisa immediately turned around, hiding the blush on his face. In that moment, he almost wished he hadn't kicked Yukina out after the kiss. It would've been nice to have someone to hug without it being awkward. As it was, he had, and so he pushed Yukina's hand away and said, "I just want to be alone tonight. Okay?" He decided to ignore the editors from Sapphire who were hanging out of their office and staring rather openly at them both.

Yukina didn't look too thrilled about the prospect, but still he nodded and said, "Goodnight then, Kisa-san. You know you can call me if you need me."

"I know." It was all he could say, really.

xxx

Kisa's night had gone in a rather predictable way, at least for him. Go out, find a guy, find a love hotel. What was different was that, where he usually snuck out as soon as the guy was asleep, he ended up falling asleep himself. In fact, the only reason he even woke up was because his phone went off. Not with an alarm, mind you, but with a ringtone Kisa had gotten incredibly used to the past couple weeks.

"What the hell is that?" his bed partner asked, cracking an eye open as Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy played on repeat because Kisa was trying to ignore it.

Kisa sighed and grabbed his phone from where he'd left it on the floor in his rush to get undressed and, just for good measure, glanced at the caller display. "That would be my conscience calling." He flipped it open and, in his best groggy voice (which at the time didn't take much to muster) said, "Hello?"

"Kisa-san, it's almost ten o'clock," was Yukina's greeting. Kisa froze for a second before staring at the watch he'd also deposited on the floor. Yukina's statement about the time was right, which meant he was late for work when it was maybe a day away from the busiest part of the month. "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just overslept. Gimme thirty minutes," Kisa muttered. He glanced around the room, taking stock of what clothes were where.

He was about to hang up when Yukina said, "Kisa-san, Okamoto-sensei sent in her storyboards this morning so I've been going over them, but we still don't have your other author."

"Of course we don't," Kisa said, sounding rightly annoyed. "Just keep doing what you're doing. Like I said, I'll be over in half an hour." Then he glanced at his belt, which was strung around the doorknob. "Maybe forty-five minutes depending on how things go." They said their goodbyes, and Kisa was finally able to hang up.

"You and your boyfriend have a fight?" Kisa's bed partner was laying across the bed now, his arms folded in front of him and an amused look on his face. Kisa had been entirely sober when he'd picked this guy out, and he was admittedly good looking. Then again, Kisa mused as he got his clothes on a piece at a time, he wasn't all that different from the other guys he'd slept with entirely sober. Pretty face, good fuck, not much substance personality-wise.

"Just a coworker. I'm late," Kisa muttered.

The man didn't look like he believed him, and as Kisa left, his belt over his shoulder because he didn't have the state of mind to put it on right then, the man said, "I wouldn't have minded if you said his name last night, you know."

Kisa turned to the man, incredulous, but he just grinned at him and started getting ready to leave himself.

xxx

Yukina went to Kisa's apartment for the second time that night. When Kisa had gotten into the office, Takano-san had bitched him out for being late but pretty much ignored the state he was in. Not that there was anything particularly wrong with him, of course, but he looked just a bit rumpled, and when he moved just right and made his collar shift down, you could see marks left on him from his activities the previous night.

Kisa's second author had finally gotten her storyboards in at about seven o'clock and Kisa had grabbed them and said he was going home with them. He was already tired, and he just wanted to sit back and tear into them in a way he hadn't been eager to rip up someone's work in a long time. He needed to get some aggression out. But Yukina, ever persistent, had insisted on going along. Kisa couldn't really protest since he was supposed to be helping the man, so they'd gotten Chinese takeout and were currently camped out in his kitchen.

The actual meal was long-gone, the flatware Yukina had insisted they use instead of eating right out of the box soaking before further washing in the sink. Kisa was currently just sitting on the table, the sides of his hair pulled back in elastics he'd found in his room and an ice pop sticking out of his mouth as he considered the page before him.

"You can't just bluntly tell this one that something is wrong," Kisa said, pulling the treat out of his mouth with a soft pop that made Yukina's eyes go straight to the action. "I tried that once, and she wouldn't talk to me for a week. We ended up having to get submat. She might've quit if it weren't for her contract."

"So how do you approach it then?" Yukina asked, sounding only a tiny bit distracted. Kisa had started licking the ice pop again, working his tongue on the top like a pro.

"A lot of mangaka are basically like young children," Kisa said, waving his ice pop around in one hand while he marked a page with a red pen with the other. "They don't like being told what they're doing is wrong, so you have to just gently suggest that they do something else. Make it seem more appealing to them than their original choice. They won't even know you're doing it until they've changed it."

Yukina considered this as he looked at the pages he'd gone over before Kisa got to work. Kisa had taken a crack at them as well at that point, using a purple pen instead of a red pen so they could tell the difference between Yukina's marks and Kisa's. There was a lot more purple. Yukina knew what a good story was, to be sure, but he supposed he was still getting used to the job.

Suddenly Kisa's phone rang, and he glanced at the display and looked slightly annoyed. Now that Kisa was distracted, Yukina decided it was a good time to do the dishes. He didn't want to just leave them there to soak all night when he'd been the one that said it would be better if they used dishes instead of eating out of the boxes. He might even take out the trash if Kisa's call was long enough. He suspected it was one of Kisa's authors.

"Look, lady," Kisa said, his voice rough and dangerous, and Yukina's eyes went wide with surprised as he turned to look from his place at the sink. "I'm not going to do a background check on every guy I sleep with. Your husband was the one stupid enough to pick up a guy at a bar and sleep with him. I don't even remember giving him my phone number."

Yukina ducked his head. He'd known since Kisa's confession that he wasn't exactly a blushing virgin, but having this kind of thing happen right when they'd gotten a pretty good atmosphere going was disconcerting at best.

Kisa went on like that for several minutes before just growling and ending the call. He proceeded to press a few buttons, and Yukina guessed that he was blocking the number. Yukina just turned to the sink and watched the fresh water flow into the dish washing pan, and Kisa didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it.

Finally, though, Yukina put down the rubber gloves he'd been about to put on and said, "Is everything alright, Kisa-san?"

"Huh? Yeah," Kisa said. He'd already gone back to editing storyboards and practically giving head to the ice pop as if nothing had happened. "That guy you chased away the other day was married, apparently. Might not be for much longer, though."

"And you see nothing wrong with that?" There wasn't a drop of accusation in Yukina's voice, but it still made Kisa look up like there was.

"How could I have known? It happens: a guy is tired of his wife, so he goes out to a bar and picks someone up. Sometimes they want a man, and how can I tell the difference between a single man and a married man who took his ring off?" He frowned as he watched Yukina move across the room and stand right there at the table. Kisa proceeded to pull his legs into the Indian-style position, as if that would help him get away. "What?"

"These aren't things a person typically has to worry about, Kisa-san," Yukina said, his eyes intense. Kisa leaned back, but Yukina still managed to catch him around the neck. Their lips were maybe a centimeter apart when he said, "You wouldn't have to worry about it if you actually let someone in for more than a night."

They stayed like that for half a minute, Kisa blushing and Yukina's eyes drooped. The only reason they broke out of their stalemate was that Kisa averted his eyes and noticed the sink was overflowing. "Yukina, turn off the water!"

Yukina ran over and did so, and like a spell had been broken, it was never brought up again that night.

xxx

Kisa mumbled something in his sleep before turning over and opening his eyes. His movements were somewhat restricted and, not quite remembering the night before, he almost panicked when he realized someone was beside him. When his eyes focused, though, it was slightly better, but he couldn't bring himself to sigh in relief. Once they'd finally finished editing the storyboards, it had been late at night and Kisa and Yukina had ended up just crashing on the floor, their last position after moving around the apartment several times just so they wouldn't fall asleep while working.

He and Yukina were lying together, a blanket draped over them from who-knew-where. The reason Kisa's movements had been so restricted was because Yukina was cuddled up to him, his arms wrapped around him and Kisa's body pulled against him like he was an oversized teddy bear. Kisa would've scowled if he weren't so comfortable. The floor wasn't the best thing in the world, but Yukina's body was warm.

And, Kisa had to admit as he gently pried Yukina off him with a slight hint of regret, he almost wished that they had done what Kisa had previously feared. The fact that they were both clothed pretty much told the story, though. If he really thought about it, perhaps it was better that they hadn't, no matter what his body was currently telling him. He could still feel heat where Yukina had been hugging him as he went to get some new clothes and take a shower.

Kisa put his clothes on the counter and quickly stripped. He just wanted to get in the shower and not hear when Yukina left. It wasn't the same as with the men he'd sleep with; somehow, the thought of Yukina just leaving him there in his messy apartment hurt more than when those men did it. Kisa would've wondered why if it weren't for the fact that he'd woken up in Yukina's arms visibly aroused.

After turning on the water, Kisa idly ran his fingers over his stomach, deliberately avoiding his obvious arousal. It would've been far from the first time he had taken care of himself in the shower, and his fingers itched to do the deed. He couldn't get Yukina out of his mind, though; his smile, his enthusiasm, his protective stance when that man had approached him after the movie. His mind had never been so insistent before.

And he had to admit, as he tweaked a nipple and finally reached down, he wouldn't have protested knowing what Yukina looked like in the same utterly aroused state. Just the thought of that handsome face above him, twisted in pleasure, made his cock twitch before he even touched it. When he did he let out a groan of pleasure, working his hand from base to head and back again. He'd had sex a little over twenty-four hours ago, but he felt like a horny teenager, getting aroused just by someone touching him.

Kisa leaned against the wall, continuing to stroke. He wasn't even trying to push Yukina out of his mind as he ran his free hand over his body. His thoughts became foggy as he closed his eyes and imagined his coworker standing behind him, his hands in place of Kisa's and his own erection pressed into his back. Eventually he just took himself in both hands and started thrusting, the cries and moans he'd been trying to hold off echoing around the steamy room freely. His hair was damp from the shower by then, and drops fell down on his body as he reached his peak. Kisa cracked his eyes open and watched the result innocently wash down the drain. He still had some on his hand, though, and he closed his eyes again and licked his thumb.

After, he simply washed himself and stepped out of the shower like nothing had happened. When he put on his clothes he finally tuned-in to noises coming from the kitchen. It was with a sense of dread that Kisa opened the bathroom door and snuck a look only to see Yukina had, apparently, taken it upon himself to cook for them. Kisa quickly slammed the door shut, his face going completely red.

"Kisa-san?" Yukina said, because he definitely had heard the slammed door. "If you're done with your shower, I made breakfast."

Kisa hunched his shoulders and opened the door again. Yukina was there in the kitchen observing his rice cooker, but he had that radiant smile on his face. As Kisa quietly slipped into a seat at his kitchen table, he decided that it was going to be another long day.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Kisa needed a good drink. That was all there was to it. He'd been putting up with a lot of shit that month and the cycle wasn't even over. Fortunately both his authors were drawing their pages and it wasn't the deadline yet, so he'd managed to find the time to just go to a bar and get shit-faced drunk. He knew, in theory, that it was probably better if he did it at home, but after his solo session in the shower that morning, he wasn't really up to facing time alone in his house again.

So that's how he found himself in a bar he frequented. He went there because by then staff knew him and didn't demand ID every time he sat down, then look at it suspiciously as if they thought it was fake. Because, of course, if he was a teenager, he would definitely get a fake ID putting him in his thirties. It wouldn't be suspicious at _all_.

In the end, though, he didn't really have the heart to order enough drinks, or enough drinks strong enough, to get himself drunk. He ended up sitting at the bar for about an hour, nursing the same glass of beer he'd gotten when he first came in and just looking like the world had chewed him up and spit him back out. The bartender had at one point asked him what was wrong, but Kisa just grunted and took a swig of his drink in response, so he didn't bother again.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy."

Kisa's shoulders were already hunched, but he managed to tense up even more when he heard the voice. He tended to remember his flings better if he was sober when he slept with them, and this guy had admittedly only been a couple of days ago. He'd also been the first guy he'd slept with in a long time who actually cared if he got off, too, though that may have been because Kisa had used his blushing virgin act on the guy and he probably felt like he was teaching him something. Once Kisa managed to compose himself, he just nodded in greeting and turned back to face the bar.

"Don't tell me you snuck in here with a fake ID. I thought you were more law-abiding than that," the guy said, taking the stool beside Kisa. He ordered his own drink before turning to Kisa and adding, "Then again, I can't really talk, now can I?"

"Considering I never plan to sleep with you again, I can probably tell you that I'm actually thirty-two," Kisa said, sliding his mostly-finished drink away from him. The bartender eyed it but did nothing, since Kisa hadn't asked for a fill-up.

"Aw, never again?" The guy turned to face Kisa and brought a hand under his chin, lifting his head up so they had eye contact. "I don't believe that for a second. Either your age or that I'll never get into your pants again. You didn't have fun?"

"I don't generally go back for second helpings." Kisa batted his hand away only for the man to take his hand and smile. "What?"

"Just once more? I'm free this evening."

Kisa pried his hand from the man's grasp, but as he stared at his beer glass, he couldn't help but think of the empty apartment he'd be going back to, accompanied only by his thoughts and his right hand. Finally coming to a decision, he opened his mouth, the words on the tip of his tongue, when he realized there was a third person there with them.

It was Yukina, of course, with three people about his age in the background, looking like if they didn't know whether they should wait for him to do whatever he planned to do or to go find a table. Finally he turned and nodded at them, and they took the corner booth with the bench that wrapped all the way around the table. It seemed a bit much for four people.

"Kisa-san," Yukina said with a smile. "You should've told me you were coming here. We could've come together."

Kisa was doing an incredibly terrible job at hiding the blush on his cheeks, which Yukina decided to ignore but that the man beside him found incredibly interesting. Seeing that Yukina wasn't going to back-down, though, Kisa just shrugged and said, "Spur-of-the-moment decision," even though it had hardly been. He'd been thinking about drowning his sorrows at that particular bar since at least lunch time.

Yukina eyed the man beside Kisa. He was now snickering into his drink like he had suddenly remembered an incredible joke but didn't feel like sharing it with his companions. Yukina said, "Would you like to join us? It must be kind of lonely up here by yourself."

"I'm not by my-" Kisa cut himself off when he glanced over to the man he'd almost agreed to sleep with, who was now actively ignoring them in favor of his drink. Somehow, between the time he'd been ready to accept the offer and now, said offer had apparently been rescinded. It was like he didn't even exist anymore. Kisa glanced over at his beer glass one more time before saying, "Sure. Whatever," and leaving his stool.

Yukina's group of friends consisted of two girls and a guy. The two girls, twins, were introduced as Kimi and Suzuko, while the guy was introduced as Hiroaki. Kisa was of course introduced as well, and as he slide into the booth, ending up with a seat between Yukina and Suzuko, Hiroaki gave him a strange look.

"What?" Kisa asked, vaguely noting Yukina's thigh brushing up against his but not necessarily caring.

"You don't look nearly old enough for the position Yukina says you're in," Hiroaki said, cutting straight to the chase. "You some kind of prodigy?"

Kisa rolled his eyes. "I'm probably the oldest person in this booth."

"Oh really." Hiroaki arched an eyebrow. "I'll pay for your drinks if that's true, but I doubt it is."

Kisa was used to the ID presentation by now, so in one fluid motion, he reached into his bag, took it out, and slapped it down in the middle of the table for everyone to see. Yukina had been looking away, biting his lip and just looking utterly amused. Hiroaki picked up the piece of plastic for better scrutiny while Kimi and Suzuko got closer on either side of him.

"…this isn't fake, is it?" Hiroaki asked, turning it over and over again like he could tell if it was.

"If I were underage, do you really think I'd get a fake ID that said I'm thirty-two when I clearly don't look it?" Kisa snatched his ID from Hiroaki's hand before the guy got the idea to put it between his teeth and bend it like an old gold coin or something. "I believe you said you'd pay for my drinks?"

"Yukina you bastard, why didn't you warn me?" Hiroaki muttered as a waitress came up to get their orders.

"I doubt you would've believed me," Yukina said simply, shifting just a little bit closer to Kisa. At that point, though, Kisa was too happy about the prospect of free drinks to even notice or care.

xxx

Kisa was pleasantly buzzed by the time Yukina decided he should go home. His friends were still ready for more rounds of drinks, but Yukina had pointed out that he and Kisa had work in the morning and that Takano-san wouldn't appreciate them going in hung-over. Kisa had reluctantly agree, his good mood dipping slightly, but he was smiling like an idiot as Yukina let him just lean against him as they left the bar.

Kisa had been contemplating a lot since that morning, mostly to do with Yukina, and in his increasingly happy state, he finally decided on what to do. Once they were out of the bar, he tugged on Yukina's shirt and said, "Yukina," in a sing-song voice. Once his coworker turned to him, Kisa pulled him down into a kiss, albeit a slightly sloppy one.

"Um, Kisa-san, are you alright?" Yukina asked, pulling out of the kiss before tongue could be involved.

"Never been better!" Kisa said as they walked awkwardly towards the street. Kisa's apartment was within walking distance, and Yukina had previously said the night air might be good for him. "In fact, why don't you come over tonight?"

"I was going to bring you home anyway, Kisa-san," Yukina said in a patient voice.

"Good." Kisa nodded in approval but didn't say anything more as they trekked home.

Kisa tumbled over as soon as Yukina deposited him on the couch, but his mouth was still going a mile a minute.

"You're really tall, you know that? I don't really like that you're so tall," he said, rolling around on the floor where he'd fallen.

"And why's that, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked. At that point he was slipping off his coat, figuring he'd make something quick to eat since Kisa had admitted himself he hadn't had dinner.

"Because when I kiss you, you have to lean down," Kisa said like it was obvious. "I like kissing you. You have a really nice face."

Yukina proceeded back to the couch and took Kisa's hand, pulling him back on the furniture. Before he could stop himself, he said, "Nice enough to jerk-off to, Kisa-san?"

Kisa had still been babbling happily but at that he went completely silent, snapping his mouth shut and trying to hide his ever-reddening face. Without warning Yukina leaned down and kissed him, but it was a short one and Kisa hardly had time to react before he pulled away. "Kisa-san," he said, leaning their foreheads together. "I really want to do those kinds of things with you."

"What kinds of things?" Kisa muttered dumbly, but he didn't move away.

Yukina just answered with another kiss, deeper this time. Kisa had the presence of mind to open his mouth, and their tongues twined together as he climbed onto Yukina's lap. He placed a leg on either side of his thighs and clutched a handful of the fabric from Yukina's shirt in one hand while he wrapped the other around his waist. Yukina's own hands were running through Kisa's hair repeatedly before finally settling on either side and pulling them slightly apart, their tongues briefly meeting in the open air before pulling back.

Kisa glanced down when Yukina did and realized they were both rather excited, and then he just grinned and started grinding against the man beneath him. Yukina jumped in surprise but didn't protest, instead letting out small gasps of pleasure as Kisa worked. Eventually, though, Kisa stopped, and Yukina looked at him in confusion until Kisa pulled his shirt up and worked his tongue over one of his nipples.

"Kisa-san!" Yukina gasped, his whole body shaking just from the simple contact. Kisa moved to his other nipple while the hand that had been clutching his shirt moved down to his pants, tugging insistently at them. Of all the days for Yukina to wear pants that didn't zip up the front. "W-what?"

"Take off your pants, stupid," Kisa muttered, leaning back and abandoning his work on Yukina's chest.

"What about you?"

"I don't need to be naked to blow you."

He had a good point, Yukina had to admit, so once Kisa stood up, Yukina quickly shimmied out of his pants and boxers, letting them pool on the floor at his feet. As soon as he was exposed Kisa was on his knees between Yukina's legs, carefully taking him in hand and giving the head an experimental lick. When Yukina shuddered, Kisa said, "You like that?"

"Yes," Yukina said, gasping when Kisa licked up the shaft again before taking his entire cock into his mouth, right down to the base. He bobbed a few times before going up to the tip and licking the precum off, at which point Yukina said, "I've never felt this amazing before. You're incredible, Kisa-san."

Kisa narrowed his eyes and pulled his mouth completely away and said, "Compliments will get you nowhere, so just shut up and enjoy this."

Yukina nodded, even though Kisa had been the one to ask him the question. It had been, he supposed as Kisa started pumping him with his hands, a rhetorical question.

He didn't last much longer, though; Kisa deep-throated him again and started swallowing around him. He had both hands on Yukina's thighs, encouraging him to thrust, and with one final suck he was done, cum dripping into the back of Kisa's throat. Kisa proceeded to swallow it, wiping his hand on his mouth where some had escaped. Yukina watched with still hungry eyes as Kisa licked the cum off his hand.

Then Yukina pulled him up for a kiss, muttering against his lips, "I love you, Kisa-san."

Kisa had been eagerly returning the kiss, but at that, he pulled away, his eyes wide. When Yukina just looked confused, Kisa rolled off him and said, "Just get your pants back on and go."

"Is something the matter, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, trying to pull Kisa back into his arms. Kisa wasn't having any of that, though, and in fact stood up and away from him. "Kisa-san?"

"I told you to just get out," Kisa said, pressing the heel of his palm to one of his eyes like he was fighting back tears. "Do you have any idea how hard you're making this for me?"

"Kisa-san…"

"I don't love! I just do that and let a guy go. You got your blowjob, so just go home." He wouldn't look at Yukina, but he could hear the man pulling his pants back on and, after a while, finally leaving.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Over the years that Kisa worked for Emerald, he had firmly decided that there was nothing good about Hell Week. He was reduced to a zombie of a man who just laid at his desk, drained of energy and the will to do anything that involved cognitive thinking. This month was no exception, but in one of his more lucid moments, after he'd gotten some caffeine into his system, he realized that being dead on his feet was an incredibly good excuse to not talk to Yukina.

Yukina, for his part, had been relegated to being the errand boy. He'd even been sent out to Kisa's other author's place at one point to pick up the pages. Kisa couldn't quite remember why they couldn't be faxed in like usual, but it had given Kisa an excuse to banish the man from the office for the hour it took him to get there, pick up the pages, and come back with them. Yukina had not protested going alone; in fact, he seemed concerned about Kisa's health as the zombiefication set in, despite the awkward tension between the two since the night Kisa had kicked him out of his apartment. It kind of made Kisa hate himself more for what he did, but the self-loathing had faded the last few days. It took a lot of energy to hate yourself, after all.

Kisa was taking a slight reprieve to stretch when Yukina came back in, some copies he'd made for Hatori in one hand and a can of coffee in the other. He handed the copies to Hatori and Kisa turned away before they could make eye contact. Even under the harsh lights that were on full blast, it being somewhere between two and three AM, Yukina's sparkly aura had not faded. He looked tired, to be sure, but Kisa shuddered to think what he would look like when Emerald was expected to pull themselves up out of Hell Week and turn back into the sparkling Maiden Club that had caught the eye of so many female employees of Marukawa- at least the ones who didn't believe that every single one of them was gay.

When Kisa went back to lay on his desk, possibly pass out since Takano-san was distracted with yelling at one of his authors over the phone, he realized that there was a can sitting there that hadn't been there before. There was a ton of trash on his desk, to be sure, but when Kisa picked it up, it was full and unopened, and appeared to be one of the coffee brands that was sold in the vending machine in the lounge. Kisa reluctantly slid his eyes over to Yukina, and sure enough, he was going over some old storyboards that Takano-san had unearthed for him to look at, not a coffee can in sight.

There was the self-loathing again.

Yukina wandered off at some point, though. Takano-san had left to chase down one of his authors, and without him barking orders with that irritated look on his face, it seemed the men had decided it was a good idea to take a nap. Yukina probably had as well; Kisa had been sneaking glances at him around the coffee can, and as the clock ticked closer to three, he was looking more and more tired.

Ritsu was the only one to jump awake when the pile of papers and such on Yukina's desk finally wobbled and fell to the floor. He started to get up to fix it himself, but Kisa just waved him off and got up. He was closer, after all, and would expend the least amount of energy putting everything back. Alternatively, he could just kick it all out of the way and be done with it. Yukina probably wouldn't even know the difference when he got back, with all the paper left abandoned on the floor already.

It was with interest that Kisa tugged papers out of the way and found the drawing pad Yukina had taken to carrying around the past week lying there on the floor, having fallen open when gravity took its course. He couldn't help but be curious. He knew Yukina had been an art student, and obviously he had some talent for it, but Kisa had never seen any of Yukina's drawings. The one time he conceivably would have might have been that time he went to Yukina's apartment, but the visit had been too short-lived for that to come up.

Kisa did not feel guilty at all when he picked the thing up so he could flip through it. He did, however, get a nice blush on his face when he saw the first picture. It was him as he had been the night he and Yukina edited storyboards at his apartment, hair pulled back, tonguing an ice pop like his life depended on it. Kisa could honestly say that his habit of giving head to food resembling male genitalia was not something he regularly acknowledged, but Yukina quite obviously had.

"Fucking pervert," Kisa muttered, snapping the drawing pad shut and looking put-out. He still had it in his hands, though, and he couldn't help but glance at it again. The picture he'd looked at was several pages in, so unless Yukina regularly left blank pages between his drawings, there was more. Surely not all of them were of Kisa, let alone drawings of Kisa Yukina could get off to after his utter rejection.

The first drawing was just Kisa in shoulders-up profile, facing the direction he would be if you looked at him from Yukina's desk. It was labeled from the first of the month so Yukina had, apparently, gone home after his "date" with Kisa and drawn that. Next was Kisa with an umbrella in his hands, obviously an image saved from when they'd visited Okamoto's studio and Yukina had lent him his umbrella. There wasn't one of the sea of umbrellas, though, as Yukina had said would be fun to draw. The next few were just Kisa, with various clothing and expressions, and then a picture of Kisa with Shizuko in his arms.

After him and Shizuko was the one of Kisa with his ice pop, which he skipped with a blush on his face. Afterwards, though, he stared at the page and he could feel his heart clenching. He was facing himself as he kicked Yukina out after the blowjob, hand pressed into an eye. All of the drawings were simply in pencil, including the shading, but he could still tell the line on one of his cheeks was supposed to be tears.

It was only when a tear dropped down onto the page that Kisa realized he was crying then, too, and he quickly wiped away the tears as best he could. He was glad that Ritsu, Hatori and Mino were all passed out, because he certainly didn't want to be seen in that state. He sniffled and closed the drawing pad, placing it back up on Yukina's desk with the rest of his things.

Of all the times for him to gain a conscience. And that conscience was, apparently, named Yukina Kou.

xxx

Seven AM rolled around and Kisa still hadn't received Okamoto's pages. Takano-san had returned with his own author's, and he seemed to be in a better mood. He'd gotten all his work in, after all. He was the first to do so, however, so his chipper humming was out-of-place in the barren wasteland that was Emerald.

Finally, Takano-san looked up and around, and he voiced what Kisa had been thinking for at least an hour now, "Oi, where's Yukina?"

"Went to take a nap," Kisa mumbled. He hadn't left the office once, though, so he had no idea where the man actually was.

Takano-san looked annoyed but dropped it when a fax started coming in. "Onodera, Mutou-sensei got her pages in."

Ritsu jumped in surprise, having fallen asleep at his desk again. He quickly ran over to Takano-san's desk so they could consult with each other and make sure everything was in order before it was packaged up to be sent to the printer, and Kisa just sighed and collapsed onto his desk again.

"Shoutaaaaa." A sing-song voice sounded from the office entrance, and it took all of Kisa's energy to lift his head and look. Shiori was standing there, looking way too bright for it being seven AM even for someone who had actually gotten sleep the previous night. She had what had to be the holy grail for the overworked Emerald editors, though: several takeout cups of coffee and a huge box of donuts. This was, apparently, enough to appease Takano-san because the minute she set them down in front of him and went back to Kisa's desk, he grabbed a cup and started chugging it.

"What are you doing here?" Kisa mumbled, though he gave his sister a thankful smile when she handed him his own cup of coffee and a chocolate-covered donut.

"Can't I do something nice for my brother and his coworkers every now and then?" Shiori asked. When Kisa just eyed her, she shrugged and added, "Well Arata had an early meeting and Shizuko's staying with Mom and Dad right now, so I was kind of lonely. Then I realized it was Zombie Week so I thought I'd get you some fuel."

"Zombie Week. Ha, that's one name for it," Kisa said around the cover's opening.

"Kisa!" Takano-san called from over at his desk. He sounded slightly clearer now that he had coffee. "Go find Yukina. This isn't the time to be slacking off."

"Yes, boss," Kisa mumbled. He shuffled out of the office, not even caring that Shiori was following him.

"So how's it going between you two, anyway?" Shiori asked with a smile. At that point Kisa was just kind of wandering the halls, glancing into other departments and checking the bathrooms but not really caring if he found Yukina or not. Then again, his coworker would probably be in a lot of trouble if he didn't turn up soon, and once Takano-san was in one of his moods, he wasn't going to be lenient on one of his underlings just because he was new.

Kisa gave his sister a sidelong glance before saying, "We, um, haven't really talked to each other lately."

"What, like, you're both too busy? But your desks are right next to each other," Shiori said, sounding confused. Kisa ducked his head, and that seemed to make it click for her. "Shouta you bastard, I actually liked that guy!"

"Well, fortunately for me, my love life is not affected by whether you like the guy or not," Kisa mumbled. They had finally gotten to the floor lounge, and he stopped dead. They had found Yukina, alright. He was laying on one of the couches, still fast asleep. The only other person in there was the head editor of Japun, who was getting something out of the drink machine and completely ignoring all of them. He gave Kisa a glance as they passed each other, but that was all.

Shiori sighed and leaned against the doorframe, folding her arms. "If I was in charge of your love life it probably wouldn't be half as fucked-up as it is now."

"My life in general wasn't nearly as fucked up before I met him," Kisa said quietly, and fortunately for him, Shiori's motherhood-enhanced hearing didn't decide to kick in right then and pick it up. "It's not necessarily any of your business, Shiori. Thanks for looking out for me, but I can take care of myself."

Shiori just gave him a once, and then twice, over before saying, "Sometimes I think that's debatable."

"Kisa!" That was Takano-san, storming down the hall and looking pissed. "You and Yukina need to head over to Okamoto's and help finish the pages. The deadline for the printers is this evening and she's not done yet!"

Kisa flinched and glanced into the lounge, seeing that Takano-san's yelling had woken Yukina up. He seemed to have heard the command from their boss, because he quickly put his feet on the floor and slipped them back into his shoes. Shiori waved goodbye and ran for it, and Kisa couldn't help but feel a knot in his stomach as he made eye contact with Yukina for the first time in days.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

There was only so much you could to avoid someone you were working directly with, as Kisa had come to discover. Yukina had started helping the assistants draw backgrounds and objects but as the day grew later and the pages came together, they needed more people to apply screen tones. Yukina knew what screen tones were, of course, but he hadn't much practice in applying them, so Kisa had ended up demonstrating for him.

"Oh I work for a lot of authors," one of the girls was saying. She and Yukina had gotten a conversation going while Kisa cut the screen tone, getting it ready for Yukina to apply. There were only a few pages left, and Kisa was ready to get out of there. He had received messages over the day saying the rest of the manuscripts had come in, so they were just waiting on Okamoto's. Kisa felt terrible about the fact that he hadn't even managed to beat Yoshikawa-sensei, who was chronically the last to get in her manuscript. "I actually mostly work for BL ones, though."

"Ah, so you work for Sapphire," Yukina said. Kisa presented him with the screen tone, since he'd already showed him where it needed to be put, and Kisa flinched as their fingers touched. Yukina locked eyes with him for a second before turning back to his conversation with the assistant.

Kisa turned away and said, "I'll, um, send Takano-san a text and let him know we'll be back soon." He didn't even wait for anyone else at the table to acknowledge him. He just went into a corner of the apartment/studio combo where he had dropped his bag on an end table. He'd left his cell phone in there, tired of the constant texts and attempted calls he was getting from his boss when they were working as fast as they could.

When he reached in and grabbed his phone, though, his bag rebelled and fell to the floor. Since it was open, a few things fell out, including the tankobon that he never thought to take out. Kisa scowled at it, but then he jumped when he realized Yukina was there beside him. It wasn't entirely suspicious, since his bag was there as well, and Kisa willed his nerves to calm down as Yukina took a bottled water out before noticing the tankobon.

"Oh. That's one of your authors, right Kisa-san? One that only publishes chapters every other month." Yukina leaned down and took the volume into his hand. "I got this one but… I think I lost it the day I started working for Marukawa." Then he presented the volume to him, and Kisa had a decision. He hadn't directly talked to the guy in days; even as he was explaining how to apply screen tones, he'd talked to the page more than his coworker.

Yukina seemed confused as to why Kisa was so hesitant, so Kisa finally said, "…that's not mine. It's yours."

"Mine?" Yukina took it back and stared at it, even though there was really nothing that would identify it as his as opposed to anyone else's.

Kisa still wouldn't look him in the eye, so instead, he clutched his cell phone in his hand and stared at the floor. "Your first day at Marukawa, in the morning you ate at that café you brought me to later, right? I was there, too, and saw you drop it."

Yukina had the tankobon in both hands by then and looked like he wanted to say something, when Okamoto suddenly stood at the table. The chair she'd been sitting in toppled to the floor, startling Kisa, who was facing her, and causing Yukina, who was facing away, to turn and look. "Done!"

"That's great," Kisa said with a relieved smile. "I'll make you all some tea before I bring the pages in."

The assistants all chorused their thanks, and Kisa managed to get around Yukina and into the kitchen. It was only when he was in the kitchen, trapped in a corner where he'd gone to get the sugar out of the cupboard, that he realized Yukina had followed him in.

"Kisa-san," he said. Kisa had turned and seen him right there, and now he braced himself for anything, expecting Yukina to slap him or yell at him or maybe, given that he had the patience of a saint, kiss him.

Instead, in a quiet voice, Yukina said, "Why are you avoiding me, Kisa-san?"

Instead of relaxing, Kisa tensed even harder. "I already told you."

"Everyone is capable of love, Kisa-san."

"Well maybe I don't love you! Did you ever think of that?" Kisa's eyes were slightly wide in anger, and he got even more ticked off when Yukina continued to just stand there stoically. "I don't hook up with guys I know I'll see again."

"Then why did you give me that blowjob?" Yukina was as blunt as ever and it made Kisa flinch and hunch his shoulders, knowing full-well that they were probably putting on a good show for Okamoto and her assistants.

There was silence between them as Kisa just nervously played with the bag of sugar in his hand. Okamoto liked two spoons of sugar in her tea, Kisa had learned over the years they'd worked together. Kisa personally liked five, but he liked sweet things.

Like, he thought dangerously, Yukina. "Maybe I don't want to love you. My life was a lot easier before I met you." He felt frustrated as he wiped away some stray tears with his free hand. It wasn't really a good idea to be seen crying here in his author's studio. Before he could do anything else, though, Yukina had leaned down and pressed their lips together gently. Kisa's eyes went wide before he slowly closed them, at least having the presence of mind to put the sugar on the counter instead of dropping it.

When Yukina finally pulled away, he was smiling warmly and said, as if it were the only thing that needed to be said, "I do love you, Kisa-san."

"Kisa-san! I'll make tea myself, you just go bring the pages to Takano-san," Okamoto called from the other room, pretty much confirming for Kisa that everyone out there had heard them. Kisa blushed but nodded.

"Come on," Kisa said, ignoring the fact that Yukina had taken a hold of one of his hands and wasn't letting go at that point. Kisa glanced over to the assistants, who were giggling, and he just narrowed his eyes.

"Kisa-san!" said the one Yukina had been talking to earlier. "The Sapphire editors said to make good use of that birthday present."

Kisa just ducked his head, not having the energy to come up with a witty retort.

Once they were outside, Yukina asked, "What did the Sapphire editors get you for your birthday, anyway?"

"Flavored lube," Kisa said, figuring he had nothing to lose at that point. "You know, for sex. As if I don't have some already." When he saw Yukina's eyes register what he probably thought were some rather interesting implications, Kisa said, "I need to get home and take a shower, in case you haven't noticed."

"We can shower together, Kisa-san," Yukina said, his voice even.

Much to Yukina's surprise, Kisa nodded. "Yeah."

xxx

As soon as they were in the shower Yukina pressed Kisa against the wall and started kissing him feverishly, making short work of getting his tongue involved. He ran his hand through Kisa's hair, pulling the drops of water that had already collected in it from the shower spray away. Finally Yukina pulled away, and as he pressed their foreheads together, he said, "What would you like me to do, Kisa-san?"

Kisa blushed and ducked his head, though Yukina was still petting him. "Whatever you want."

"But I want to make sure you feel good, Kisa-san."

It was new to Kisa, to be sure, to be with a man who actively cared about him and asked him what he wanted to do. He could be forceful in bed, sure, but this was somehow completely different. Now that he'd been given permission, though, he turned and faced the wall.

"Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, looking confused.

"Reach around and jerk me off," Kisa said. When Yukina didn't reply, Kisa added, "It's what I was thinking about, in the morning after we edited the storyboards."

"So you _were_ thinking about me," Yukina said with a smile. He pressed himself up against Kisa's back, rubbing a pointer finger over one of his nipples and making him twitch. "That makes me really happy."

"Of course I was," Kisa said, breathing heavily as Yukina ghosted his fingers over his inner thighs. "I couldn't stop thinking about you. Even after I kicked you out after…" He ducked his head again and closed his eyes when Yukina finally took him in hand. "That night I kicked you out, I took the first cold shower of my life."

"Really?" Yukina asked, gently stroking with one hand while cupping Kisa's balls with the other.

Kisa gasped before saying, "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly sexually repressed. I just felt guilty that the resulting orgasm would be because of you."

Yukina kissed the top of Kisa's head and Kisa looked up, confused. He was just met with a gentle smile as Yukina continued to work, and soon Kisa was reduced to a shaky mass of flesh, leaning his elbows against the wall of the shower and scrunching his eyes closed as Yukina worked him towards completion.

"I suppose this does make us even," Yukina muttered into Kisa's shoulder.

"W-what?" Kisa managed, his face red and the groans he was trying to repress getting harder and harder to stifle.

"I never got to do anything for you that night," Yukina said simply.

"I'm not exactly keeping score of the blowjobs and handjobs I'm involved in," Kisa muttered, and then he bit his lip. Yukina brought his head down and licked the back of Kisa's neck, and he finally let out a moan, blushing as he released into Yukina's hand. Yukina kept pumping, pulling every last bit out. When Kisa was sure he was done, he fell back against Yukina's naked chest, acutely aware of the erection pressed into his back. Yukina didn't seem to mind, though. He wrapped Kisa in a one-armed hug, while Kisa took the hand that had just jerked him off and licked his fingers.

Yukina leaned down to Kisa's ear and said, "I love you, Kisa-san." Then he pulled his hand from Kisa's mouth and used it to direct the man's face towards his so they could kiss.

"I must taste like cum," Kisa muttered against Yukina's lips.

"You taste amazing, Kisa-san," Yukina said, and then, as if as an afterthought, he added, "I love you."

"Yeah, yeah," Kisa muttered, but he was still wrapped up in Yukina's arms. "The quicker we wash, the quicker we can get to round two."

Round two led them to the bed, bodies hastily dried but hair still dripping wet. They kissed all the way from the bathroom and Yukina was the one who ended up tumbling backwards onto the bed. Once he had arranged himself in a more comfortable position Kisa climbed atop him. "Are you… going to be top, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, looking up at him with undisguised lust.

Kisa considered this as he leaned back on Yukina's knees. Then he smiled and said, "No. I have an even better idea." Then he leaned over to his nightstand and pulled out one of the drawers. He pulled out a tube of something that looked about half-used. When Yukina glanced at it, Kisa said, "I did say I already have some."

Yukina was already erect, since he hadn't gotten a turn in the shower, and Kisa ignored his groin in favor of leaning down and kissing Yukina as he prepared himself, fingers slick with lube. Yukina had one hand laced through Kisa's hair and another pumping him, getting him erect again. When Kisa finally felt ready he reached to the bedside again for a condom, and once it was in place, he opened the tube again and spread a liberal amount of lubricant on Yukina's cock.

As Kisa leaned down for one more kiss, Yukina said, "Kisa-san? What are you going to do?"

Kisa leaned back and said, as he took Yukina in hand, "What else? I'm going to ride you." Finally he started lowering himself down, eyes scrunched in concentration as he slowly sat. Yukina was just laying there, propped up on his elbows and looking amazed as he was sheathed inside the man on top of him. "Figured I should… take the lead, since you've never done this before."

"Kisa-san…" Yukina was still as Kisa started moving up and down on him.

After a few times, though, Kisa cracked one eye open and said, "What, you're going to let me do all the work?"

"I'm sorry, Kisa-san! We can switch if you want." He started to get up, but found himself pushed down on the bed with more strength than he was aware Kisa had.

"Stay the fuck where you are," Kisa growled. He sat back, taking more of Yukina's cock inside him again. "I'm not used to waiting for a guy as long as I have for you, and I'm not letting you ruin it just because you don't know what to do."

"Kisa-san…" Yukina's eyes were wide, and when Kisa met them, he could tell he was even more aroused.

"If you want to do something, put those nice hands of yours to work for something other than drawing perverted pictures of me," Kisa said.

Yukina quickly took hold of Kisa's own erection and started pumping, but he said, "You saw my drawings?"

"Yeah," Kisa said, moving up and down again. "You liked me with that ice pop, huh?"

"You were amazing."

Kisa smirked. "Did I look as good with the actual thing?" When Yukina just looked at him with bleary eyes, Kisa continued with, "You liked when I sucked you off? Mouth around your dick, shoving it down my throat?"

Yukina started shuddering, and Kisa quickly moved up and down in time with Yukina's pumps until they were both done, Yukina groaning out Kisa's name and Kisa just babbling incoherently as he released onto Yukina's chest. When it was over, all Yukina seemed capable of was lying there, breathing heavily. Kisa took the opportunity to clean them both up with some tissues beside the bed. Yukina just watched as Kisa carefully removed the condom from him, tied it off, and tossed it in the trash nearby. Kisa laid down on the bed and soon found himself wrapped up in Yukina's arms.

"I love you, Kisa-san," Yukina said, sounding satisfied.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Kisa asked, a slight hint of annoyance to his voice.

Yukina leaned over Kisa's side and kissed him on the cheekbone. "Because it's true. You're an amazing person."

"More like a bitter old man who hurts people he loves," Kisa muttered into a pillow. He suddenly found himself being flipped around and facing Yukina. "What?"

"You're capable of learning from your mistakes, Kisa-san," Yukina said. "It did hurt me when you did that and… it hurt you too, right?"

"Yeah." Kisa averted his eyes.

"And you love me, right?"

"Yeah." He got an annoyed look on his face when Yukina pulled his head up for a kiss, but the scowl quickly melted.

Eventually Yukina fell asleep, his arms still wrapped securely around Kisa. It was maybe seven pm, and Kisa was fighting between wanting to eat and just passing out. His mind was drifting, though, and that decided it for him. So, he settled against Yukina, toeing up the covers to pull them over them both. Sleep came quickly.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It was with a mild sense of déjà vu that Kisa woke the next morning. It was the start of a new cycle, morning light was filtering in through the half-closed blinds, and he had an obviously naked man beside him. The difference between then and about a month ago, however, was that Kisa remembered the previous night, he didn't have a sense of regret twisting his stomach and, he admitted as he yawned lazily, the morning sun seemed a lot more inviting.

Kisa's stirrings woke Yukina up, and he cracked an eye open. When he saw Kisa, a wide smile graced his lips. "Kisa-san," he said, sitting up. He sounded almost surprised to see Kisa there, but he was more than willing to work with it. Kisa found himself being pulled into a kiss, arms wrapped around his waist. "I'm really glad you're here."

"Yukina, in case you forgot, this is my bed." Kisa pulled away from the kiss but stayed in Yukina's arms. "Usually I kick a guy out by now."

"I doubt I'd let you do that by this point, Kisa-san." Yukina finally let go of Kisa and stretched. Kisa couldn't help but gaze as his muscles pulled taut, and he was suddenly glad there was no reason before for him to see Yukina naked in any capacity. He probably wouldn't have held himself back as well as he did.

"You have way too much confidence," Kisa said instead of any of that. He swung his feet over onto the floor, intent on getting his morning routine started. He'd have to make his shower quick, though. He'd never had sex with a guy in his own shower before the previous night, and now the scene was branded into his brain.

Kisa jumped in surprise when Yukina wrapped his arms around him from behind, hugging him tightly around his naked rib cage. When Kisa looked back at him, alarmed, Yukina kissed him and said, "I wish I could give you some, Kisa-san. You don't have nearly enough faith in yourself."

Kisa sighed and slumped into Yukina's arms. He was going through a lot of firsts that month, and this was another: sitting in bed, being complimented on something other than his sexual ability. As if Yukina could read his mind, though, he said, "You were amazing last night, Kisa-san."

"Of course I was." Kisa scoffed and pushed him away. His eyes softened, though, and he added, "Let's just hope you don't get tired of me."

"Does that mean we're dating now, Kisa-san?"

Bringing up an amazing amount of courage, Kisa turned and kissed Yukina full on the lips before saying, "Yeah, I guess we are." His eyes went wide as he was pushed down on the bed. Yukina crushed their lips together. Kisa lost himself in the sensations, more than willing to go for another round.

At least until his alarm went off.

Yukina stopped with his hands groping Kisa's backside, and they both looked at the alarm clock. Yukina looked like he was ready to tell Kisa to ignore it, but Kisa pushed him away and switched it off. "Don't you need to get home and get some new clothes?"

"I had some for the all-nighter that I didn't change into," Yukina said, and if Kisa didn't know any better, he would've thought Yukina had planned it. He didn't get to think about it long, though, because he found himself pulled into Yukina's lap and Yukina was reaching for his groin. "You're hard, Kisa-san."

"Yeah," Kisa admitted. He settled into Yukina's arms as the man jacked him off. After a bit, though, he batted Yukina's hand away and turned around so he could return the favor. Yukina went back to work once he was in position, and he leaned down and kissed Kisa.

Neither of them lasted long but Yukina was the first to finish, gasping out Kisa's name and barely able to keep himself from just collapsing. It didn't help that Kisa had been letting himself make as much noise as he wanted, even with his lips seemingly permanently attached to Yukina's.

Kisa had to admit, as Yukina got dressed and he himself got ready to take a shower, he wouldn't mind if more of his mornings could start like that.

xxx

In the few years since Takano-san had started as editor-in-chief of Emerald, the office had been transformed into a shojo manga paradise. Pink everywhere, all sorts of dolls and stuffed animals, all that kind of stuff. Over the month, though, the office slowly warped into what could only be described as a warzone, and the pink slowly faded from the walls as if it had never been there in the first place. Kisa never even really saw the floral print on his own chair.

As soon as the last manuscript for the cycle was handed-in, however, the office tended to recover. Kisa had never been around to see it cleaned up, stuffed animals and dolls replaced as needed and paint redone, though. He suspected it was done by some kind of magical beings that instantly knew when the cycle was over. It would be useful to have them around the entire month, but, Kisa supposed as he sat down in his chair and stared all around at the shiny office, there was only so much you could do even when you're magical.

"Good morning Kisa-san, Yukina-san," Ritsu said from his own desk. He looked tired, which looked out of place since the entire office had been reset for the start of the cycle.

"Good morning, Ricchan," Kisa said with a grin. His sharp eyes immediately zeroed-in on Ritsu's neck which, like last month, had marks on it just below the line of his collar. "Did you and Takano-san have fun last night?"

Ritsu blanched at that, pulling his collar back up and muttering something about Takano-san not knowing what's appropriate and what's not. He kept giving quick glances to Kisa, as if he were trying to figure out how to respond to that, before he finally said, "You're looking happier than usual. Especially with how bad you looked yesterday."

"I bounce back easily, Ricchan," Kisa said with a grin. Ritsu didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it anymore, so Kisa turned back to his work. Yukina hadn't been a part of the conversation at all, just sitting there at his desk and smiling. Kisa was about to ask what the smile was about when he heard giggling in the office doorway.

He turned, and of course, there were the Sapphire editors. They'd had their eye on him when he turned, and they didn't even turn away when he glared at them. "Did you have a good time last night, Kisa-san?" one asked. In her hand she waved around her phone, displaying a somewhat unfocused picture that Kisa couldn't really see from there.

Kisa glanced over at Ritsu, who seemed curious about what was going on, then over to Yukina, who just smiled and went back to what he'd been doing. Then Kisa stood up and went to snatch the phone from the woman's hand. She held it away from him but still let him see it. The assistant who also worked with Sapphire authors had, apparently, taken a picture when Yukina and Kisa were kissing in Okamoto's kitchen. Kisa went bright-red and shouted, "Delete that! Delete that right now!"

"Aw, Kisa-san, why would I do that? You two make such a nice couple!" the woman said, pulling away before Kisa could manage to snatch her phone. "Although when Toriko told us some of the things that were said in there, I was honestly shocked. You two had seriously only had oral sex by that point?"

It was at that point that Ritsu did a spit-take, spraying the coffee he'd been drinking on the floor. He was gasping for breath while Takano-san just looked alarmed that Ritsu had had such a strong reaction. No one else in the office said anything, though, and Kisa was just left blushing furiously and clenching his fists. He didn't do much in the way of intimidation, though, considering he had to look up to meet any of their eyes.

"Just get out of here," Takano-san finally said once he was sure that Ritsu wasn't going to choke to death or anything. The Sapphire editors didn't look happy but they still complied, and the one with the picture on her phone giggled and said she'd send a copy to Kisa.

Kisa just sighed and went back to his chair. "I should've known it would be all over the office by now," he said to the ceiling, as if he were talking to God rather than just himself. Suddenly his phone vibrated, and when he flipped it open, it was an email from that Sapphire editor, complete with a picture attachment. He had no idea what compelled him to do so, but he opened it and just stared at the picture of him and Yukina kissing. It was somewhat blurry as he'd observed, of course, but it was also at a bit of an angle. Clearly that assistant was better at drawing than she was at taking pictures.

"I kind of like it, Kisa-san." Yukina had come up beside Kisa without a sound and was staring at his phone's screen by that point.

Kisa just narrowed his eyes and snapped his phone shut. Then he took a deep breath, and the usual smile was back on his face. It would not do, after all, to be in such a sour mood on the first day of the cycle, after a night of such amazing sex.

xxx

Kisa was completely capable of cooking for himself, but he had found it hard to protest when Yukina offered to do it himself. So that night, Kisa just laid on the floor of his apartment, going through the contacts on his phone and deleting ones he didn't know as Yukina made some kind of noodle dish. Kisa hadn't much questioned what it would be, since he knew from experience that Yukina was a good cook and Kisa couldn't honestly say he was picky when it came to food.

Just as Kisa was deleting the last unknown number, a call popped-up. It showed a number instead of a name, so it obviously wasn't anyone of importance. In fact, it might've even been one of the numbers he'd just gotten rid of. Given that, Kisa had no idea what compelled him to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Shouta?" It was a man's voice, and since he was calling Kisa by his given name, it was most likely one of the deleted numbers. "You free tonight?"

Kisa jumped in surprise when he noticed Yukina right beside him. Yukina leaned over to the ear that Kisa had the phone up to and said, "Dinner is ready, Kisa-san." Then he smiled and went back into the kitchen.

"No," Kisa said, pulling the phone away from his ear, and he shut it without saying anything else. He glanced over to Yukina, who was smiling as he got servings for the both of them. His phone started ringing again, but with one glance at the caller display, he pressed ignore and dropped it onto the coffee table so he could have his meal in peace.


End file.
